


A is A: Magic Study Hall!

by Flyboy254



Series: A Is A [43]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27378466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flyboy254/pseuds/Flyboy254
Summary: Sunset Shimmer's trying to make a new way to study magic! With the help of Team Korra, can she and her friends finally put a single name to the power of magic once and for all?
Series: A Is A [43]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/943266
Comments: 8
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Magic Study Hall!**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

* * *

Korra looked around as her team came out of the portal. Canterlot High was in front like usual, a few students clustered around the front steps between their classes. Turning, she saw her friends coming out behind her looking like the locals did. “Oh, wow, this is new,” Bolin said, staring at his hands and legs. “I feel like I’m more fragile looking like this.”

“And our eyes are big again,” Mako said. “We don’t look like we would in MV-1 or 2’s worlds though.”

“Well bending still works,” Korra said, bending a quick breeze around themselves. “Plus, nothing ever happens in this universe. I read their papers, the worst you’d ever see here is hurt feelings.”

“Korra!” Turning, Korra saw Twilight hurrying down the steps at the front of the school. She wasn’t wearing her sweats this time, now it was a skirt and a light blue blouse. “I’m so glad you could all make it, this could really help us out!”

“Happy to be here,” Korra said. “Where are we going?”

“In the science lab on the ground floor,” Twilight said, barely able to contain her excitement. “This is going to be amazing, we’re so close to a standardized unit of measuring magical energy!”

“Why do we need a standardized unit for that,” Asami asked. “I’ve read over what Maj. Carter sent us, wouldn’t Joules and Watts work?”

“Not necessarily,” Twilight said, still smiling as she led the group through the front doors. “Think about everything magic can do after all. If we get a standardized unit of measure, it means we can proceed on to further study. Imagine it, using magic to solve so many practical problems. Like you Mako! Lightning bending provides clean renewable energy, and it doesn’t mean anyone loses jobs because of it. It we could apply the same techniques through rigorous study and testing, we could give every member of the MVTF these same gifts.”

“Yeah, but that’s not exactly easy work,” Mako said. “We had to work six hours a stretch, a single half-hour break, then we work another six hours. There aren’t enough lightning benders able to do it, Republic City still has to use additional sources of power.”

“That’s why this could revolutionize everything,” Korra said, turning back on Mako with starry eyes. “This could revolutionize how lightning benders are utilized to make power, make it easier on them while still providing comparable energy supplies through the United Republic.”

“Hey Korra,” Bolin half-whispered. “Is it just me or it Twilight kinda channeling Varrick right now?”

“Oh, sorry,” Twilight said, backing away as she scratched the back of her head. “I still get a little excited over the science of all this. I mean it was amazing enough when I was just tracking strange magic signals, and now here I am a half a year later trying to study the multiverse.”

“So long as you’re keeping up with your training,” Korra said, tapping Twilight’s shoulder with her fist. “How’s that going?”

“Great, I held a plank for a whole two minutes the other day!”

“See? You’re getting better even when I’m not here,” Korra said, smiling at Twilight. “You’ll be KO’ing bad guys in no time.”

“Hopefully not when she has her studies to focus on,” a stern voice said. Turning, the group saw Luna walking up from her office. “MV-3, correct?”

“Yeah, that’s us,” Korra said, trying to grin. “How’ve you been Ms. Luna?”

“Fine, just preparing for the summer break,” she said, gesturing to the banners reading, “CONGRATULATIONS SENIORS!” “The graduation is only a few weeks away, and we’re trying to make sure they’re as prepared for the future as they can be.”

“I’ve already put in for several colleges,” Twilight said, turning to Asami. “Canterlot Polytechnic is one of the best for science degrees, I just don’t know which one to choose. What do you think, physics or mathematics?”

“You’re asking the wrong person,” Asami said, waving Twilight’s questions off. “My dad taught me engineering himself, so I’m not the one to ask about colleges and what to study.”

“As long as you remember that you’ll be going to college once summer is over.” Luna turned to Korra and said, “You agree, of course?”

“Yeah, of course we do,” she said, a little intimidated by Luna’s glare. “The three of us didn’t even go to college, we can’t stop Twilight from doing it.”

“Exactly,” Luna said, her glare softening. “At any rate, we’ve had enough trouble keeping the school operational after some of the damage we’ve seen since magic arrived. I trust we won’t have any trouble from you four?”

“Not unless there’s some crazy monster or nutty bad guy,” Bolin said, shrugging. “But I think our odds on that are slim here.” Luna’s annoyed expression told him to shut up fast.

“C’mon, Sunset’s waiting in the lab,” Twilight said, pulling Korra’s arm as she led on again.

Shaking her head, Luna went back to her office and shut the door. Sitting behind her desk, she pulled out the file she’d been given on MV-3. They wouldn’t stand out in their world, thank goodness for whatever modified people to change from dimension to dimension. She knew MV-3 weren’t going to charge around using their abilities at random, but she didn’t know what would happen when their magic came here. Equestrian magic always wound up going haywire, no one could imagine what spirit magic was capable of.

An email popped up on her computer, from the Canterlot School Board. Seeing her sister on the receiving list as well, she opened it up and started to read. Then she groaned and picked up her desk phone just as it started to ring. “You saw it too?”

“ _I saw it too,_ ” Celestia groaned. “ _Maybe we could both call out sick tomorrow?_ ”

“You know she’d only use that against us,” Luna said. “I hate these meetings.”

* * *

Sunset looked up and smiled at Korra’s team as they were led in by a still-excited Twilight. “ – And that’s why we should be able to use it as a base measure!”

“Hey guys,” Sunset said, waving to their guests. “Thanks again for coming, this should really help us out.”

“It’s no problem Sunset,” Mako said, looking over the lab. There were sensors and spectrometers and multimeters spread over every available counter, Rarity and Pinkie Pie finishing up as they put several cameras in place. “Making sure you get everything?”

“We still don’t have a lot of data when it comes to magic,” Sunset said, shrugging as Asami started to poke and ogle every piece of equipment. “I’ve tried to measure our own abilities, but magic is so varied I can’t pin it down using normal measurements.”

“Twilight mentioned that,” Korra said, the budding scientist going over to help Asami identify the gear. “Then the jargon started, so we got a little lost.”

“It’s about measuring on a standard scale,” Sunset said. “I can feel emotions and see into people’s memories and thoughts, right? What kind of energy does that take compared to when you fire or metalbend? A single magical scale can help us gauge our abilities, and start to plan how we can amplify them in some way.”

“Amplify?” Korra sounded nervous at the word. “Wouldn’t this wind up being like when Kuvira tried to use the Spirit Vines in her weapons?”

“Not necessarily,” Sunset said, setting up thermometers across the room. “Think of it like training a muscle. Like Lucy, the latest mission report from the EU said she was able to summon all her spirits for almost a full hour at once. Compare that to how hard she had to try to summon more than one of them before.”

“Makes sense,” Mako said. “But what about alchemy? That’s more like a science isn’t it?”

“Except it isn’t replicated yet,” Sunset pointed out. “Al left all the basics of alchemy’s function and performance with Sam at the SGC, but she’s still been unable to perform it herself. Something about how you teach it is the factor. If it weren’t truly magical, the most basic means of it should have been used by the SGC by now.”

Well we’ll help however we can,” Korra said. “What do you want to try first?”

“Only simple techniques,” Sunset said. “The most basic bending actions you can make. Once we get those recorded, we’ll make comparisons to when we use our magic. After that, we’ll consolidate the data and send it with you back to the SGC for review.”

“So a nice relaxing trip for once,” Bolin said, sighing as he settled into one of the chairs. “Shame Maj. Carter can’t be here.”

“I know,” Sunset said, shaking her head. “I feel like we barely see SG-1 anymore thanks to Kinsey’s rule.”

“Oh don’t be so gloomy Sunset,” Pinkie said, jumping over. Mako blinked, trying to figure out how she jumped from one side of the room to another in one go. “SG-1 are still our friends, and I know that soon enough they’ll be back out with us exploring the multiverse!”

“I just wonder if they’ll need us,” Korra said. “What if the Goa’uld choose a new leader? If it’s someone smart, they wouldn’t have any way to stop them.”

“That’s why we need to figure this out,” Sunset said. “Magic can do things technology can’t, and then some. Once we start training ourselves up, SG-1 has one more defense against the Goa’uld.”

“And SG-1 is back out in the multiverse,” Korra said, fistbumping Sunset. “Let’s get started!”

Lab set, Sunset started small. She had Mako hold a ball of flame in his hand. She had Bolin manipulate a single three-pound rock around his body. She watched as Korra trailed water around herself. As Korra forced a gust of air through an anemometer, Asami and Rarity watched Sunset and Twilight scribble down their results.

“She’s really invested in this,” Asami said. “Do you think she can pull it off?”

“Oh I certainly hope so,” Rarity said, biting at her nails. “The last time we tried to quantify magic, it left Sunset rather ragged.”

“What do you mean,” Asami asked. “What happened the last time she tried to put some numbers on magic?”

“Suffice to say, she needed some expert work for her hairstyle,” Rarity said. “Still, no one is more qualified to study magic in the MVTF. If there’s anyone who could figure out a unifying magic theory, it’s her.”

Sunset didn’t hear the conversation, she was too busy observing the measurements she’d already taken. “Okay, so Mako can make fire at roughly 1,100 degrees Celsius,” she said. “Korra could generate winds of roughly eight kilometers an hour, and Bolin, well we need to figure out a way to measure Bolin being able to move that rock around.”

“This is still incredible,” Twilight said, eyes wide as she went over the numbers. “A magic scale like this is going to put us one step closer to understand magic in a quantifiable context. The implications are limitless! What’s the best comparison, watts? Joules?”

“Probably joules,” Sunset said. “One unit of magical energy is equal to joules squared? No, there’s gotta be a factor for how much energy is spent by the person using the magic. Korra, how exhausted is a bender after an hour of using their bending?”

“An hour?!” Korra exclaimed. “I mean, yeah, Aang was in the avatar state for a hundred years, but I’ve never had to keep my bending going for an hour!”

“We didn’t have to do it at the power plant either,” Mako said. “The longest I’ve ever seen anyone bend was maybe thirty minutes, and that’s just because he wanted to win a bet.”

“Then we have to factor in biological factors,” Twilight said, before squeeing and clutching her notes. “Amazing! Biophysical interchange of magical energy! Do you realize what the implications are for biological processes!?”

“How about we just worry about testing what we have,” Sunset said, laughing as she put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “Mako, Korra, since both of you can firebend I have an idea. We have Korra perform a bending technique Mako uses. Then, she’ll perform an equivalent technique using airbending. How’s that?”

“Well, it’s not a bad idea,” Korra said. “The thing is, each bending style came out of different needs. Firebending is a lot more aggressive than airbending.”

“It’ll still give us a rough baseline,” Sunset said, before looking around the lab. “Maybe we should take some of this outside before we start firebending.” Everyone nodded in agreement.

The door to the lab slammed open, Rainbow Dash zipping inside in a rainbow flash. “Guys, come quick, there’s an emergency and only we can solve it!”

Korra started to run, then noticed Sunset wasn’t moving. “Uh, did I miss the part where emergency means something different here?”

“It does in this case,” Pinkie Pie said, yawning. “Rainbow’s been going a little stirred crazy since Gen. Hammond said we can’t go on combat missions anymore.”

“So what’s an emergency that isn’t an emergency,” Bolin asked. “Please tell me it involves something not-dangerous?”

“It’s the baseball team,” Rainbow shouted. “I just had my best players get sick, and I don’t have anyone near as good as they are!”

“Rainbow, we’re trying to study magic here,” Sunset said. “Don’t you think the baseball season is a little less important?”

“Bolin, you understand,” Rainbow said, zipping to Bolin. “Imagine if you had a chance to win the pro-bending league one season, and all you needed was the help of your friends!”

Bolin bit his lip, turning to Mako with otter-dog pup eyes. “C’mon bro, can’t we help them a little bit?”

Mako facepalmed and said, “Bolin, this is an MV issue. Helping Canterlot High with their basedball team isn’t going to help us with our problems. And stop that, it hasn’t worked in four years.”

Bolin pouted and turned away. “I’ll buy lunch for the next month if you help.”

“Bolin, we have Asami’s staff preparing our food and -- ”

“Two months.”

“Deal.”

Korra smiled and shook her head. “Sunset, can we still carry out the tests and help this team?”

“As long as we do the testing before the baseball team needs to practice,” Sunset said, grabbing a thermometer and the anemometer. “C’mon, let’s get started outside. Pinkie, do you have the fire extinguisher?”

“The serious one or the silly foam one,” Pinkie said, holding up two red metal canisters. “Honestly, I forgot which one is which.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Sunset wiped the sweat off her brow, smiling as she looked over her notes. “Great job today everyone, this data is already a great start. When we come in tomorrow we should be able to take off running.”

“Good, I’m starving,” Bolin said, bending the dirt he’d been sending through the air back where it came from. “What’s for dinner?”

“Granny should be on that now, I told her we’d be having guests,” Applejack said, smiling as she helped gather up some of the testing gear. “C’mon, it’ll be a tight fit but I’ve got the space in my truck.”

“You guys can go ahead,” Sunset said. “I need to finish putting these away before I get going.” Waving at the group as they walked on, Sunset gathered up the test equipment and carried it back to the science lab. The bell rang just as she got inside, and seconds later the halls filled with students. Sunset clutched the equipment close, trying to navigate back to the lab as safe as possible. No easy task when there was a stampede toward the front of the school.

“No, watch it,” Sunset cried out, trying to dodge around her fellow students. “Hey, take it easy! No, this is valuable equipment!”

“Need a hand?” Turning, Sunset saw Flash Sentry taking some of the equipment out of her hands. “Some of this stuff looks pretty expensive.”

“Thanks Flash,” Sunset said, moving more easily through the students. “Staying after for band practice?”

“Actually I wanted to see if I could find you,” Flash said, following Sunset to the lab. “We’ve got another concert coming up this weekend, but it’s an all-day gig and we’d appreciate some help for when we need a break.”

Sunset grinned, opening the door despite the mass of students. “You know you can just talk to me without needing help for a gig Flash.”

“Right, sorry,” Flash said, setting the equipment down on the nearest lab bench. “Still trying to get used to the fact that you aren’t gonna try anything underhanded or devious.”

“Yeah, can’t blame you for that one,” Sunset said, putting the equipment in its proper place across the lab. “What’s the event?”

“Filthy Rich is opening a new group of stores,” Flash said, setting some of the thermometers back on their charging docks. “Seems he managed to find some land after he failed with Camp Everfree. We can split the fee if you want.”

“It’s okay, I can ask if the girls want to help out,” Sunset said. Then she paused. “Well, except for Fluttershy.”

“She’s still not talking to any of you, huh?” Flash asked.

“Well we say hi if we pass each other by in the hall,” Sunset said, more like she was trying to convince herself than explain to Flash. “I’m a little afraid to try and say more than that though. What if the wrong thing drives her further away?”

“You think maybe you should just stay away from the MVTF?” Flash asked. “Just seeing Fluttershy after she came back, it’s not a secret that you guys are involved with some pretty dangerous stuff.”

“No more dangerous than Equestria,” Sunset said. “I mean in SG-1’s world we don’t have to worry about getting eaten by Timber Wolves whenever we go out of the base.”

“Man, sometimes I can’t imagine which is worse,” Flash said. “The multiverse, or Equestria.”

“Wait, what?” Sunset turned to Flash as she locked up the cameras. “What do you mean?”

“Well, think about how much trouble you have because of Equestrian magic,” Flash said, moving for the door. “Then you just said that leaving your house is a risk of getting eaten? That doesn’t exactly sound safe, Sunset.”

“No, I guess it doesn’t,” Sunset said, thinking to herself. “I just never saw it as a problem though. It’s just how things are in Equestria.”

“You say so,” Flash said, walking with Sunset to the front of the school. “You never thought about it after you came here?”

“No, I guess I never noticed how quiet things were around here,” Sunset said. “Though I was focused on trying to turn you all into zombies to conquer Equestria.”

“Yeah, you really didn’t think that one through, did you?” Flash asked, grinning as they walked the empty halls. “Didn’t you think someone would come looking for an entire missing high school?”

“Eh, from what I’ve seen they might’ve just covered it up.” As Sunset spoke, she walked out into the afternoon sun. “Anyway, I’ll talk to my friends and see if they can make the gig. I’ll see you tomorrow Flash.” Waving to the blue-haired boy, Sunset made her way to her bike.

It had been a steal, well, literally. Getting the money for a bike had taken some doing, it had been easier to go to a junkyard and snag one that was on the way to the crusher. Fixing it had taken the better part of her time in the human world, but it had paid off being able to get her from place to place. Coupled with the jobs she worked, she had managed to take it from a broken-down wreck to something decent and fast enough to get her to where she needed to go. Strapping on her helmet, she waved to Flash again as she sped past his sports car and onto the road.

Driving to Applejack’s family farm wasn’t that bad a drive, it was just long. Still, as she put her bike on the stand and walked to the door, she could already hear laughter from inside the house.

“Hey, Sunset’s here,” Apple Bloom shouted, shoving the front door open. “What took ya so long, dinner’s almost ready!”

“Sorry Apple Bloom, I had to make sure everything was put away.” Smiling, Sunset set her helmet on the small table inside the Apple family farmhouse and walked into the living room to see Applejack and Rainbow Dash facing Bolin and Asami at a video game.

“Argh, I don’t get it,” Asami shouted, desperately mashing her controller. “If this game is about fighting why isn’t there an option to grapple?”

“Because that’s the sign of someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing,” Rainbow said, looking haughty as she played. “You have to use skill at this game, not just brute force.”

“Well it’d help if I hadn’t just found out about this game a half-hour ago,” Asami shot back, tilting her controller in her hands like it might help. “No, I know I blocked!”

“You blocked high,” Rainbow laughed. “You didn’t block low against my leg sweep!”

“Hey, I’m here,” Sunset shouted out. “So, getting tired of Rainbow’s play style?”

“Little bit,” Bolin groaned, guiding his character about the screen.

“You get used to it,” Applejack said, fighting just as hard as Asami was. It helped that she was used to playing video games. She was able to put up a better fight against Rainbow Dash. “Granny’s working on the last bits of dinner now, hope you’re hungry.”

“Well trying to unlock the secrets of the universe does work up an appetite,” Sunset said, leaning against the doorframe of the living room. She noticed Korra glaring at the screen as the game went on. “You okay Korra?”

“It’s their fighting styles,” Korra said, glaring at the TV. “I mean did whoever made this actually try to find out what a fight looks like?”

“Not really,” Twilight said, sounding awkward. “Most of the people who make these games are better with computers than fighting.”

“That explains the poor stances and stupid moves,” Mako said. “They don’t have the money to hire advisors for this stuff?”

“Who cares,” Rainbow called out. “I’m the one that’s winning right now.”

“Yeah, well not for much longer,” Applejack growled. “All I need is a few more -- ”

“Kids,” Granny shouted. “Dinner’s ready, c’mon and get it!”

Rainbow laughed, using Applejack’s distraction to send her character out of the ring, knocking Bolin and Asami’s characters with them. The three grumbled, glaring at Rainbow as they followed into the kitchen.

The spread on the table was massive, slice after slice of pork chops with a bowl of steamed mixed veggies. A giant bowl of mashed potatoes and plate heaped with biscuits matched with a pitcher of milk, reminding Sunset of how hungry she was.

“Well c’mon,” Granny said, smiling as she wiped her hands dry on a dishrag. “I didn’t spend half the day at this just to have you stare.”

“Well we can’t not show any appreciation,” Bolin said, snapping into an empty seat. “C’mon, let’s eat!”

Sunset smiled, enjoying the sound of cutlery and glassware scraping and clinking. She watched and listened as Asami asked Twilight how the GameCenter 3 worked. Bolin and Pinkie challenged each other on how many full plates they could each finish. Mako and Rarity staring at the pair with judging eyes.

“Wow, so yer all with that MVTF group,” Apple Bloom said, staring up at Korra. “What’s it like?”

“Well, it’s never boring,” Korra said, grinning at Apple Bloom. “Did Applejack tell you about the dragon we fought? Her team was pretty instrumental in taking it down.”

Granny looked up, dropping her fork. “Dragon? What in tarnation are you talking about, Applejack told me this was just a research job.”

The girls all shuddered, leaning away from Granny Smith. “Well that was an emergency situation,” Sunset said, trying to not sound like she was making excuses. “The MVTF said it was an emergency situation, that they’d need the help of every team for it.”

Granny turned on Applejack. “So all the time you said you’re looking for colleges, you’ve been out wrestling dragons and raising a ruckus?”

“Of course I’ve been putting in at colleges granny,” Applejack argued, holding up her hands. “You’ve seen the letters I’ve gotten, there’s a whole bunch of colleges who’d take me.”

“Well that’s your priority, not going off to fight monsters.” Granny spoke with a hard authority, Applejack shrinking away. “Until you choose a school you aren’t going out to any more adventures.”

“Uh, can I say something?” Korra asked. Then Granny hit her with a hard glare. “You’re right, it really isn’t my place to say anything.”

A car door slammed outside, and seconds later Big Macintosh walked in the front door. Apple Bloom rose and waved from the table. “Hey Big Mac! C’mon in, we’ve got guests!”

Big Mac looked in at the dining room and nodded. “Eeyup.”

Sunset let out a breath. The heaviness sin the air started to fade away, even though Granny Smith was still glaring at Korra’s team.

Dinner finished, the team went their separate ways. Mako and Bolin waved from Applejack’s front porch, suddenly regretting their pick for sleeping arrangements. Asami and Korra were in Rarity’s sedan, following Sunset’s motorcycle down the road. “Well, that dinner could have gone better.”

“Bit of an understatement,” Asami said, staring out the window in the backseat. “Can you get grounded from the MVTF?”

“Let’s not find out,” Rarity said, following Sunset through a green light. “The last thing I’d want to do is get her in trouble with Granny Smith.”

“I don’t know why her granny was so upset,” Korra said. “It isn’t like she’s unaware of what goes on with you seven.”

“Most people here don’t,” Rarity said, following Sunset into a smaller neighborhood. “Even when Sunset first arrived, none of us knew about Equestrian magic. Then every time it’s unleashed on the world, we wind up having a fight with a monster and restoring someone back to how they were. It’s always something, really. It’s made trying to finish our senior year quite the hassle.”

“Sounds like it,” Asami muttered. “What about you Rarity? It doesn’t sound like you’ve had any problems since you came along with the MVTF.”

“Hardly,” Rarity said. “Going out and exploring the multiverse has done no favors for my hair, nevermind how much it’s taken away from my design work. I applied with some of my best to Canterlot University’s Art and Design college, but they’re quite demanding. I don’t know if I’ll be able to work on my designs over the summer if we’re going on missions.”

“Probably best to talk to Gen. Hammond about that,” Asami said. “I’m sure he’ll only put you on research missions for a while if that’s the case.”

“Unless there’s another incident like that dragon,” Rarity said. “We’re going to need a better plan in case something like it happens again.”

They followed Sunset into a small apartment complex, Asami and Korra hopping out as Sunset took her helmet off. “Thanks Rarity, sorry that you had to be the one to do this for the week.”

“Oh, no trouble at all darling,” Rarity said, waving the trouble away. “I am the only one with a car that could do it after all. I’ll see you all tomorrow, I expect we’ll have more work to do.”

Waving at Rarity as she drove off, Sunset turned to her building. “Sorry I don’t have a bed for you two. I’ve got plenty of pillows though, and a spare comforter.”

“It’s fine,” Asami said, following Sunset inside. “We’ve slept in worse places, believe me.”

“Yeah, I saw that episode when the Equalists took over,” Sunset said. “And the ‘movie’ where I turned into a demon. Not my finest moment.”

“Well at least people like you,” Korra said. “Apparently people look at us and think we’re lame.”

“Those people haven’t met you,” Sunset said, unlocking the door to her building and going up the stairs. “It doesn’t matter what they say, they aren’t the ones working with you.”

“Right,” Asami said, gripping Korra’s hand in hers as Sunset walked to her apartment on the second floor. “Besides, Rainbow said she wants us to help with that game right? A good night’s sleep is what we all need.”

A half-hour later, Korra and Asami were falling asleep on the floor in front of Sunset’s TV, Sunset already out in her bed. None of them noticed her geode starting to glow on her nightstand. Or the small balls of light surrounding Korra. They didn’t know the same thing was happening in Applejack’s guest room to Mako or Bolin, or that the portal under the Wondercolt statue glowed with a red haze.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Celestia kept a firm grip on her coffee, walking into the school board’s offices. It wasn’t often she was called in to the board, they were usually content to let her run her school. Now, she had to deal with Starswirl and his enforcer, Neighsay. She was at least used to them, they’d been running the Canterlot school board for what felt like an eternity. No, she was concerned with their latest addition.

She walked up to Starswirl’s office to see his secretary, Raven Inkwell, already hard at work. “Good morning Principal Celestia.”

“Morning,” Celestai replied, smiling at the secretary. “I have an appointment?”

“Yes, go right in,” Raven said, still typing as she spoke to Celestia. “Mr. Starswirl is waiting for you.”

“ _Oh great,_ ” Celestia thought, keeping her smile up as she walked through the door into Starswirl’s office “ _An ambush._ ”

Celestia walked in to see Starswirl already behind his desk, with three chairs in front of him. Two were set to the left, already occupied. The last was empty, waiting for Celestia. “Ah, Celestia,” Starswirl said, rising from his desk. “Good to see you again, it’s been some time.”

“Yes, CHS is keeping me busy,” Celestia said keeping her tone cordial. “Mr. Neighsay, Ms. Cinch.”

Neighsay, Vice President of the School Board, was a rail-thin man with a constant severe expression and no tolerance for frivolity. At least, frivolity to him. Celestia didn’t deny the man was skilled with making sure Canterlot’s public schools ran efficiently, but she didn’t care for how swift he was to condemn measures taken to given the students some joy in their school days along with their educational requirements.

The other woman in the room, there was a problem. Abacus Cinch, former principal of Crystal Prep, looked at Celestia with a small smile. That was trouble, since the last time Celestia had seen Cinch it was after Cinch had encouraged Twilight Sparkle to unleash a magic energy that nearly destroyed the borders between dimensions. The fact she was in the office now, smiling at Celestia like the cat who didn’t just get the canary, but got congratulated for it? That was trouble.

“Tell me Celestia,” Starswirl said, as Celestia took her seat. “How are you and your sister doing in CHS? I understand you’ve done some interesting work to help the students of CHS expand their horizons.”

“We’ve tried to carry out some actions to give the students a wider array of experiences in their education,” Celestia said. Time to sell herself. “Our students have all shown consistent academic progress, so we decided to expand their views in general. Along with the Friendship Games, we took the senior class to Camp Everfree for a week this past April. They all enjoyed themselves, and we’re thinking of doing the same next year.”

“A camping trip,” Neighsay said, sneering at the thought. “This is a school, Celestia, not a scout troop. I trust your students actually learned something from this?”

“ _Do you count surviving magic in the wild,_ ” Celestia thought. “Yes, the camp staff were very educational about the forest and environment.”

“Yes, easier than making sure your students are actually learning what they need to,” Cinch said. Celestia had to resist the urge to mock the woman. It’d be easy, but this wasn’t the setting. Starswirl did have a sense of humor, but this was his office.

“What Ms. Cinch means,” Starswirl said. “Is that she suspects CHS is slacking in terms of the intellectual development of your students.”

“I was under the impression that the Friendship Games had shown my students were just as skilled as the ones from Crystal Prep.”

“Regardless, I will be looking into this,” Neighsayer said. “I’ll be coming to your school soon, Celestia. I’ll be observing your teachers and classes for the rest of the week. If I can’t find any evidence, then clearly this was a fluke. If not, rest assured action will be taken for the good of your students.”

Celestia kept herself from tensing up. If Neighsayer started looking into CHS and its records, a lot of questions would come up about Sunset and where her family was. Along with a lot of issues involving why so much of the school was under repairs. “Of course,” she said, still smiling. “Whatever you need, we’ll be happy to accommodate.”

“Excellent,” Starswirl said with a smile. “I’m sure this was all a misunderstanding anyway, but we do have procedures to follow. Once this is all over, you shouldn’t have any problems from us.”

Celestia smiled, nodding to Cinch. “ _Oh, how I wish._ ”

* * *

Korra was still trying to wake up as they made their way into the science lab. “So, where’s everyone else?”

“No idea,” Sunset said, pulling on a lab coat. “Applejack usually gets here pretty early, I don’t know what could be keeping her.”

“I’m wondering if I should start drinking coffee,” Korra groaned. “Tenzin never got me up this early when I was training. High school sounds crazy.”

“Yeah, that’s about what I thought when I first got here,” Sunset said, pulling out some safety goggles. “Back in Equestria, most colts and fillies only go to school until they find a place to work.”

“Must be nice,” Asami said. “We’re still having problems in Republic City trying to find people jobs and places to live.”

“That’s kinda scary,” Sunset said. “The only reason most ponies wouldn’t have a place to live is because they’d choose to.”

Korra scoffed. “Yeah, well speaking from experience? Most times people are homeless because they had a bad situation.”

Sunset was about to ask if this was what she learned in her three-year absence when she felt her phone buzz and play a country tune. Smiling, she answered, “Hey AJ, what’s up?”

“ _Uh, well we’re in a pickle Sunset,_ ” Applejack said. “ _Everything was fine this morning until Bolin stepped outside, then he put one foot on the ground…_ ”

Korra didn’t hear the conversation, she could feel a yawn coming on. She opened her mouth, taking in a big breath before…

Asami went flying out from her chair, half the lab in front of her flying into the far wall. Sunset yelped, pulling her goggles down and crawling to Asami. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Asami said, looking up to see Korra clamping her hands over her mouth. “I don’t know if Korra is though.”

Luna smiled, walking into the school in time to see Applejack pull up in her pickup. “Good morning Applejack.”

“Oh, mornin’ Ms. Luna,” Applejack said, hoping out of the cab. “Sorry, but I’ve gotta problem.”

“I was about to ask,” Luna said, seeing the cab was empty. “Where are Mako and Bolin, are they alright?”

“Well, that kinda depends,” Applejack said. “I’m sure they’re not hurt, but Bolin trapped Big Mac’s truck behind a wall of rocks.”

“What? Why’d he do that?”

“I don’t think he meant to,” Applejack replied. “Because when he saw what he did he tried to fix it. Only he nearly put the truck into a sinkhole, we had to use the tractor to get it out!”

“That doesn’t answer my question though,” Luna said. “Where are Bolin and Mako?”

“We’re here,” Mako’s voice said. From the bed of the truck. “Applejack’s right, something’s wrong.”

Walking over, Luna peered over the side of the bed to see Mako and Bolin strapped down, incapable of moving. Taking a long breath, Luna turned to Applejack and said, “I’m going to presume this was for their own safety as well as yours?”

“Absolute truth,” Applejack said. “Now I gotta carry them to the science lab or else Bolin’s liable to break something.”

As Luna watched the cowgirl hoist the two bound benders into the school, she heard a car pull up. Turning, she saw Celestia pull into the lot staring at the doors. “Luna,” she asked as the window rolled down. “Did I just see Applejack carry two bound visitors from the MVTF through the front doors?”

“Yes,” Luna said, so deadpan one could swear she was on a BBC detective drama. “Apparently something’s happened with their abilities.”

“Of course,” Celestia groaned, covering her eyes. “Because it had to happen the same time we’re going to have Neighsayer come to the school.”

“Well on the bright side,” Luna said, grinning at her sister. “You were the one who was worried about things getting boring when we took this job.”

* * *

“This is terrible,” Twilight groaned, face planted firm on the lab bench. “There’s no way to come back from this.”

“It’s not that bad Twilight,” Asami said. We just need to figure out how to work around this, modify the tests a little.”

“That’s what I mean,” Twilight said. “This was supposed to help us establish a baseline. With their powers amplified like this, we can’t make an accurate measure without skewing the results.”

“We’re fine by the way,” Bolin said. Mako wasn’t talking, the one time he’d tried left scorch marks on the wall just next to Rainbow Dash. “Just a little tied up.”

Pinkie couldn’t hold back a giggle. Sunset wasn’t as amused. “This is serious Bolin,” Sunset said. “How are we supposed to test this without risking someone getting hurt? Worse, how do we reverse whatever happened?”

“We could use my detector design,” Twilight said. “If this is Equestrian magic, maybe my design could draw it away?”

Sunset turned to the three benders and asked, “Is it worth a shot?” Mako and Korra nodded. “Okay then. Twilight, build a new device and see if it works. Applejack, Rarity, keep an eye on Korra and the brothers. Asami, we need to talk with Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna and tell them what we’re planning. Pinkie, you get some food for them -- ”

“Girls, we have a problem,” Celestia said, walking into the science lab. “We…” She stopped, looking over the students standing over the three bound benders. “Do you need a few minutes?”

“No,” Sunset groaned. “You might as well just tell us what else is about to go wrong.”

“You have no idea how right you are,” Luna said. “Principal Cinch decided she wants to give us more trouble. The school board decided that her claims about how we run CHS need investigating. They’ll be sending Mr. Neighsayer to look into our practices.”

“Neighsayer?” Sunset asked. “That was the name of Celestia’s chancellor back in Equestria.”

“Well here he’s Starswirl’s right hand on the school board,” Celestia said. “I’m sorry Sunset, but we can’t risk him finding out about magic or the MVTF. We need to send Korra and her team back to the SGC.”

“That might not be the best idea,” Sunset said. “Just sending them back might not fix what happened to their abilities. If we send them back, we might only wind up doing more damage.”

“Then we need to put them somewhere safe,” Celestia said. “We can at least put them in our house until Neighsayer finishes his inquiry.”

“Excuse me,” Luna said, turning on Celestia. “I don’t remember you asking me if that was alright.”

“Well we can’t risk the Apple farm,” Celestia said. “And sending them to anyone else’s house will only raise questions.”

“What about keeping us in the school,” Asami said. “You’re already used to magic here, this might wind up being the safest place to keep us.”

“During the night,” Luna pointed out. “What happens during the day? Their magic is already amplified, if it gets worse while Neighsayer is here this could throw everything out of place. And where’s Rainbow Dash?”

At that second, the door to the lab got kicked in. Rainbow marched in, baseball gear piled high in her hands. “Okay, here’s my plan. Korra, Bolin, you’ll be our designated hitters. Mako, you’ll take the pitcher’s mound. Asami, you take shortstop, and -- ” Finally setting the gear down, she noticed everyone staring at her. “What?”

* * *

It didn’t take long for the CHS rumor mill to spring into gear, students crowding around Celestia’s office looking for answers. “Everyone calm down,” Celestia called out, motioning for calm. “I know it seems bad.”

“Bad nothing,” Sandalwood cried. “If they find out what’s been happening, what happens to CHS?” The students called out in agreement, and the teachers mixed in with the crowd looked like they agreed.

“That’s why we’ll treat tomorrow as a normal day,” Celestia said. “As long as Neighsayer is in the building, we’ll treat everything as a normal. He might try to speak with some of you about what happened during the Friendship Games, but don’t worry. Just answer him honestly.”

Lyra’s hand shot up as she said, “Wait, you mean tell him about the plant monsters and dimensional portals? How does that help?”

“We just tell him there were some issues with the games,” Celestia said, smiling as she spoke with an assured confidence. “Nothing else needs to be brought up, because the only way he’d know about anything that happened is if any of us told him.”

The students started to talk with each other, satisfied that this was the solution. Celestia thought everything was done, until a quiet voice spoke up.

“What if we think we should tell them?”

The entire school turned to stare at Fluttershy, her head down but her voice firm. Celestia cleared her throat and said, “Why do you think we need to say anything?”

“The MVTF are all meanies,” Fluttershy said, starting to look up. “It isn’t just Parker, they all are violent and dangerous. We shouldn’t have anything to do with them.”

“Uh, Fluttershy,” Micro Chips said, leaning over. “Who’s Parker?”

“That’s between Sunset Shimmer and the others,” Celestia said, her voice firm. “As for the rest of us, all we can do is do what we can to support them.”

“Or we could stop playing this crazy game,” Cranky shouted. “Face it Celestia, this is a school. Not some base for those girls to go out through the multi-whatever from.”

“There’s no promise that we’d be better without them,” Celestia pointed out. “The multiverse came to us whether we knew about it or not. If anything, we’re safer associating with the MVTF instead of ignoring what we know is happening."

The crowd seemed to lose their hesitation, looking to each other and nodding. Celestia had never purposefully steered the school wrong, and despite everything had managed to keep everything and everyone alive and out of trouble. No, they were staring at Fluttershy instead. A few of the students whispered to each other, edging away from Fluttershy.

Celestia made a note of that before moving on. “Right now our priority is to keep ourselves mindful of what might happen. The unknown is always confusing, and because of that we feel the need to try and fill in what’s missing with something, anything to make sense of what’s happening. We can’t afford to let ourselves make possibly dangerous decisions on incomplete information. I agree, the multiverse and magic are not things we understand. That doesn’t mean we should panic or make rash decisions. Now everyone remember, Neighsayer only needs to know what we want him to know. So tomorrow, we’re gonna make sure of that until he’s satisfied. Is everyone with me?”

The entire student body raised their fists in agreement, though Celestia noticed Fluttershy and Cranky still unconvinced by her words.

* * *

Pinkie smiled, holding her phone up for Korra and the brothers to see. “And this is UTube,” she said, smiling as she played the video. “It has all kinds of funny videos, like [this one!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcNpBNpvyc4)”

Korra and Mako shared a look as Bolin managed to laugh despite the bindings.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

“So, let me get this straight,” Spike said, pacing the floor in Twilight’s basement. “Korra and her friends came here to help Sunset figure out some more about magic. Only now Equestrian magic came through, _again_ , and it’s sending them into some kind of crazy power surges?”

“And unless I can find a way to drain the excess Equestrian magic from them, we can’t even let them leave.” Twilight was busy with her soldering as she spoke, wearing her plastic eye pro and cloth mask. “If I’m right, this new version of my magic detector should be able to drain off the excess Equestrian magic without draining the kind that gives them their bending.”

“Yeah, something tells me it won’t be that simple,” Spike said, sitting beside Twilight. He flinched away as she dabbed some flux on one of the components. “Ugh, I always hate how that stuff smells.”

“Well you’re the one who wanted to be down here while I was working on it,” Twilight said. “Why not go upstairs, it’s almost dinner.”

“Because I never get any good conversation with your family,” Spike said, pacing a few steps back. “It’s kinda boring waiting for you to get home from school. What’s it gonna be like when you go to college? I don’t think they’ll let you bring a pet along.”

“That’s right,” Twilight whispered, pulling back from her work. “I have to respond to those acceptance letters I’ve received. I just don’t know which one I should pick.”

“I thought you were set on Canterlot University,” Spike said. “You did say they had the best theoretical physics program.”

“I know, but then there’s Manehattan Polytechnic, and University of Fillydelphia,” Twilight said. Then she realized where the last one was. “Eh, I can probably pass on going to U.F., I hear that city’s full of crazies.”

“Compared to Canterlot,” Spike said, grinning.

Twilight giggled as she set back to work. “Okay, you got me there. Maybe I should go with Sunset, together we could keep working on our research into magic and its relationship to the physical laws of the multiverse.”

“It might be the best,” Spike said. “You’re still trying to figure out the whole friendship thing. Who knows, Sunset could help you make even more friends!”

“That’s a good point,” Twilight said, smiling at Twilight from under her mask. “I just don’t want you to be lonely.”

“Hey, I’m man’s best friend right,” Spike said, smiling. “I can be friends with anyone.”

“Lucky you,” Twilight said, inspecting her work for the night. “Hmmm. It doesn’t look terrible, I just can’t figure out a safe way to test this once it’s done.”

“You’re worried about hurting them if you use it,” Spike said. “But there’s no other way to try and make this work without a test.”

“I know, and in terms of the scientific method it makes me worry,” Twilight said. “Still, I have to try something. If we go up against any enemies that use magic, this can depower them without forcing us to kill them. Like what Fluttershy said, the MVTF is pretty violent regardless of what the threats it faces can do. Giving them something that can let them take people prisoner instead of killing them might not just help us get information, but tamp down on how hostile the MVTF can appear.”

“I hope so,” Spike said. “Some of those things you told me you saw with that platoon of Europeans sounded crazy.”

“They’re just different, like the rest of us,” Twilight said, putting her things back where they belonged on her soldering bench. “They did save us all during that mission to New York City in that Disney-based dimension.”

“Yeah, thanks for not bringing me along on these missions by the way,” Spike said, shaking his head. “Some of this stuff sounds crazier than whenever magic gets loose.”

“Well we’re not giving up,” Twilight said, shutting off the lamp over her bench. “As soon as we get some good data back to Maj. Carter, we can finally start moving forward on magic.”

“Just make sure you don’t take it away from me,” Spike said. “I kinda like being able to talk. Really helps me get my point across. Especially about that terrible food your mom kept buying.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Twilight said, reaching down to scratch behind Spike’s ears as she went up the stairs. Walking back into the dining room, Twilight was hit by the delicious smell of hot pasta sauce coming from the kitchen.

“Finished for the night dear?” Twilight Velvet asked. “Dinner’s almost ready, so if you need to go back down it’ll have to wait.”

“I just need to wash up,” Twilight said, moving for the bathroom. “I just wanted to go back to an old project I was working on before I transferred.”

“Well I hope these projects will help you with you college entrance letters,” Velvet said, stirring the sauce. “Three more came in from Fillydelphia, Appaloosa, even Maretropolis.”

“You can toss the one from Fillydelphia mom,” Twilight said, moving for the bathroom. “I don’t think I’ll be going there.” Twilight couldn’t see her mother breathe a sigh of relief that her daughter wouldn’t be going to Fillydelphia for her education.

* * *

“Oh it’s so exciting, all these design colleges mailing you acceptance letters,” Cookie Crumbles said, passing a tray of flaky biscuits to her husband. “Which one do you like the most Rarity?”

“I’m still trying to decide,” Rarity mused, half-fiddling with her plate as she thought. “I mean of course Manehattan’s College of Art and Design has the most experienced program, but I do want to make sure I can have a business background to work with. I can’t afford to have such skill with _haute couture_ and not make my own living off it.”

“Well there’s no shame in working for someone else until you’re ready to break out on your own,” Hondo Flanks said, smiling as he worked on his massive flank steak. “I worked for Filthy Rich for years until I had enough saved up for my store, and it was worth every day of it.”

“Oh dear,” Rarity said, looking up from her plate. “That reminds me, Flash Sentry asked for our help on Saturday. The thing is it’s at Filthy Rich’s new store.”

Hondo gripped his utensils so tight Rarity was afraid he’d bend his knife. “On that land he pretty much stole from old Mr. Greenhooves?”

“Hondo, careful now,” Cookie said, putting a hand on her husband’s shoulder. “Rarity, you’re almost an adult, so we can’t stop you from going with your friends if you want.”

Rarity nodded. Her father had always had issue with Filthy Rich, ever since he’d started his own sporting goods store in direct competition with Filthy Rich. Worse, he’d been successful. Filthy Rich had never done anything against her family, but it was no secret that he didn’t like how successful Hondo Flanks had become.

“Your mother’s right,” Hondo said, easing off on the silverware. “Just make sure you’re home before your curfew.”

Rarity smiled and flipped her hair. “Really father, when he I ever disobeyed you in such a flagrant manner?”

* * *

Applejack held the truck up, her geode glowing as Big Mac worked underneath it. “Nothing’s wrong with it?”

“Nnnope,” Big Mac said, backing out from underneath the truck. He gave Applejack a nod, the cowgirl slowly lowering the truck back to the still-lumpy ground.

“I’m sorry Big Mac, I didn’t know that would happen,” Applejack said, the glow around her geode slowly fading. “Sometimes I’m convinced magic has a mind of it’s own, like it’s got more fire in it than an Appaloosan bonfire.”

“Eeyup.”

“And now Granny’s none to happy with me for being part of the MVTF,” Applejack said, walking with Big Mac back to the house. “I mean I can’t blame her, but I’m old enough to make my own decisions about what I do.”

“Eeyup.”

“Problem is, I know she’s not wrong, is she?”

“Nnope.”

“Grrr, this is gonna drive me up an apple tree,” Applejack said, opening the door to the house. “I can’t just abandon my friends y’know? It’d be like me not helping you after what happened with the truck.”

“Eeyup.”

Going into the kitchen, Applejack poured two glasses of water and turned to Big Mac. “I dunno big brother, I mean I’m not swearing off going to school or nothin’, I just want to make sure everyone stays safe when they go out on a mission. Do you think Sunset would be enough to keep Rarity and the others safe if something went wrong?” Big Mac shook his head. “And I’m not slacking on my college letters, there’s no reason I can’t have an education while I’m doing this. Hell, Gen. Hammond and Maj. Carter said plenty of their people can go to college and serve.” Big Mac looked over, confused. “Sorry, it’s a word they use when they’re frustrated in the SGC.” Big Mac nodded and sipped at his water.

“I just wish Granny would understand what we’re trying to do,” Applejack said. “If we don’t do it, well who will, right? That’s what Grandad used to tell us about the war.”

“Eeyup.”

Sighing, Applejack took a seat at the table, staring at her glass. “I just can’t leave any of’em Big Mac, not one of the other teams. We promised we’d help’em, and leaving for college right now just feels like it’s abandoning them.”

Big Mac came over and put a reassuring hand on Applejack’s shoulder. Smiling down at his little sister, he walked off to the living room to turn on ESPN; Equestrian Sports Programming Network.

* * *

Rainbow Dash pushed herself hard for the last sprint, imagining she had to beat the ball to home plate. Her cleats dug into the grass in her backyard, tearing out chunks of dirt from the already worn line in the yard from years of sprints. Bracing herself, she dropped and let her momentum carry her forward. She put her left leg out, tucking her right leg under her backside and sliding into the end of the rut. Jumping up, she dusted herself off and turned to stare at the opposite end. “ _Maybe one more…_ ”

“Rainbow Dash,” her father called out. “Your mother says it’s time for dinner, c’mon inside!”

Rainbow stopped herself, turning towards the house and jogging over. “I’m just gonna wash up real quick,” she said, taking hear cleats off at the door. Washing her face and hands, she changed out of her practice gear and went to her usual outfit. “Sorry mom,” Rainbow said, bounding back to the table. “I needed to practice my moves for the game we’ve got coming up.”

“That’s fine Rainbow,” Windy Whistles said, smiling as she passed her daughter some salad. “You know your father and I will be there cheering you on that day.”

“You’re right we will,” Bow Hothoof said, slapping his palm on the table and shaking everything. The lack of reaction from his family made it clear this happened often. “Just tell us when to be there honey, and we’ll be there cheering you and your team.”

“I know you will dad,” Rainbow said, smiling before going to her dinner. “I just hope the rest of the team can play at all.”

“What do you mean,” Windy asked. “Did someone else get injured?”

“Oh, no, no one else is hurt,” Rainbow said. “It’s just a bad sign that we can’t field some of our best for the game is all.”

“Well it’s like we said when I was with the Colts,” Bow said. “Play your best game, and even if you lose people will think you’ve won.”

“Right, thanks dad,” Rainbow said, grabbing some mashed potatoes. Her dad was just trying to help, but him mentioning how hard he played on the Colts didn’t always translate into good advice. Especially now with what was happening.

“Tell you what honey,” Windy said, setting her drink down. “After you graduate, why don’t we all go on a vacation? You’ve been saying you wanted to go to the Fillydelphia training camp.”

“Better than being in Fillydelphia,” Rainbow chuckled. “I’ll just need to talk with Sunset and the others, okay? We might be doing something to celebrate graduation.”

“We’ll help you pack if you need it,” Windy said with an eager smile. Rainbow groaned and started eating again.

* * *

“Well it isn’t much,” Asami said, laying the three blankets from Nurse Redheart over her friends. “Still, safe to say we’ve been in worse places.”

“Doesn’t say much for us,” Bolin grumbled. Korra and Mako both turned their heads to glare at him. “Alright, alright!”

“We’re gonna be in trouble tomorrow morning,” Asami said, shaking her head. “If you three can’t even use the bathrooms, it’s gonna be a long stay here.” The three benders whimpered a little at that idea.

“I know, but come tomorrow I’m sure Sunset and her friends will help us out. We just need to keep quiet and make sure that whoever’s coming tomorrow -- ”

“Neighsayer.”

“Right Bolin, make sure that Neighsayer doesn’t know anything more than he needs to.” Putting the pillows under their heads, she leaned up against the wall of the science lab. “Maybe we should ask Tenzin about this when we go back?” Korra shot Asami a look like Asami just suggested they start harvesting spirit vines again. “Okay, maybe not Tenzin.”

“What about Jinora,” Bolin suggested. “She’s an airbending master _and_ she isn’t gonna give us any grief for what happened.”

“That might be it,” Asami said. “What do you think Korra?” Korra nodded, then looked at Asami with longing. “I know babe, but we can’t risk it.” Leaning in close, Asami kissed Korra before leaning herself up against the wall. Setting a pillow behind her head, Asami drifted into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

Luna yelled from the living room, “You little slime! I’ll frag you when I respawn!”

Sighing, Celestia got up from her book and walked out to see Luna in her pjs shouting at the TV. She was playing her favorite, Duty of Honor, only it sounded like she was going up against someone skilled. “Having trouble?”

“Not now Celly,” Luna growled, leaning forward with her teeth bared. “If I have to deal with Neighsayer breathing down my neck this week I’ll at least enjoy my nights the way I want to.”

“Can’t blame you,” Celestai said, leaning against the wall to watch Luna start again from the spawn point. “I don’t think Cinch told them anything about magic, so that’s one blessing. I guess even she couldn’t spin that into something they’d believe.”

“She’s still trying to come after our kids,” Luna said, her controller clacking as she set after one of the other players. “And the fact she’s trying to make us look bad? Maybe we can send some of the MVTF after her. I don’t think Dead Six or 1st Platoon would care much about getting rid of her.”

Celestia shook her head. Luna had always been the one for an idea of decisive action, but while that was great for potential discipline problems it wouldn’t help in this case. Cinch wasn’t a threat, not yet anyway. If she kept coming, they’d have to take it seriously and maybe consider a way to keep her quiet. For now, all they could do is play along and throw off Neighsayer.

“Then we have to worry about Cranky and Fluttershy,” Luna said. “Cranky wouldn’t outright say it’s magic, be he would say we’re giving those girls too much freedom in how they act.”

Celestia glanced at her sister. “And Fluttershy?”

“That’s a bigger problem,” Luna said, her voice growing cold. “She knows enough to threaten the operation, and if she presents any evidence of magic to Neighsayer then we have to accept the military involving themselves.”

“Right,” Celestia said. “Coupled with the problems we’re having with the benders. This didn’t happen when Korra came to help Twilight train either. It’s like Sunset trying to study it set it off.”

“Another problem to try and puzzle out,” Luna said, throwing a grenade in the game. “Magic doesn’t seem to like it when people try and put pieces together about it.”

“Or when the non-magical take it on,” Celestia noted. “We’ll have to ask about that.”

Luna nodded, but another death set her off. “You little dirt-gobbler!”

Celestia chuckled, turning back to her bedroom. “I’ll see you tomorrow Luna.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

“Okay, we’re gonna see if it wore off,” Sunset said. Everyone else was hiding behind a pile of dirt Applejack had dug out. The rest of the school, students and teachers, was watching from the second floor, curious and with time to kill before classes actually started. Some were wearing hard hats, some had safety goggles on, but everyone wanted to see what would happen next.

“Okay, I’m gonna let Bolin loose first,” Sunset said, undoing the straps. Tossing them to Applejack, she turned to Bolin and nodded. “Okay, take a small step forward.”

Bolin nodded, cringing as he lifted his foot. Everyone on the second floor ducked down, watching as he set his foot down on the ground again. Everyone yelped, bracing for impact. Then, ten seconds later, nothing had happened. Letting out a breath, Bolin smiled and shrugged. “See? Nothing happened.”

The ground quaked, and spikes shot up through the baseball field.

“No!” Rainbow cried out, flying over to see the baseball field was a jagged mess of rocks. “Bolin, what’d you do!? We need that to practice for the game!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Bolin cried out, trying to put the baseball field back. Instead, he turned the ground into a sinkhole. “Gah! I can’t stop!”

“Bolin, freeze,” Sunset shouted. Bolin held still, Sunset watching as Rainbow stared at the ruined diamond. “Great, that means we’re still stuck.”

“Worse, that Neighsayer guy is on his way,” Asami groaned. “If we can’t get this under control we’re all gonna get it.”

“Then we have to use it,” Twilight said, pulling her detector out. “Sunset, you and the others should stand away. I don’t want to risk sucking out your magic again.”

Taking cover behind Applejack’s barrier, Sunset poked her eyes around the edge. “This is getting ridiculous! Magic never acts like this in Equestria, so why here?”

“It was doing the same when you tried to study it before the Friendship Games,” Applejack said. “You gotta admit, that’s more than a coincidence.”

“It doesn’t mean we should just accept what happens,” Sunset said, watching as Twilight held her detector up to Bolin. “The sooner we figure out how magic works, the sooner we can stop Zeref and any other threats that use it.”

Twilight turned her head away, holding her hands out as she opened the detector in front of a frozen Bolin. Shutting her eyes, she opened the detector and heard the device activate.

“Woah, okay, that feels weird,” Bolin called out, his body starting t glow with a green hue. “I’m tingling, there’s a definite tingling sensation here!”

“Just stay calm,” Sunset shouted. “You’ll feel a little drained after, but you won’t do any more damage!”

“I’m feeling more than drained,” Bolin shouted, the bender starting to wobble on his feet. “It feels like what Dr. Victory did to us!”

“No,” Asami said, sprinting out from cover. “No, Twilight shut that thing down!”

Twilight nodded, closing the detector. The problem was it didn’t stop the drain. “No, no not again,” Twilight shouted. “It’s supposed to shut down when the lid closes!”

“Give me that,” Asami shouted, ripping the detector from Twilight’s hands. Throwing it on the ground, she started smashing at it with her boot until the device fractured. Bolin shuddered, the flow of magic energy rebounding into the man like he was hit by a shot. Mako jerked in his restraints, trying to rush to his brother’s side.

Sunset sprinted toward Bolin, kneeling down to check Bolin’s pulse. “Bolin, look at me,” she said, trying to get Bolin’s attention. “C’mon Bolin, you need to talk to me.”

“Sunset,” Bolin groaned, blinking to try and clear his eyes. “No more experiments please?”

Sunset sighed, smiling and nodding. “Deal, no more experiments.”

“This is awful,” Rainbow cried out. “We’ll never come back from this!” Sunset was about to calm Rainbow down, until she realized Rainbow was still flying around the baseball field.

“Rainbow,” Applejack shouted. “We’re kinda dealing with bigger things here, can’t you forget the baseball field for a second?”

“But AJ -- ”

“What on Earth is going on here!” Everyone turned to see Luna glaring at them all.

“Vice Principal Luna,” Sunset said, shooting up. “We were trying to pull away some of the magic from Bolin!”

“And doing that,” Luna said, eyes wild as she pointed to the baseball field. “Neighsayer will be here any minute, how do we explain that?”

“I’ll get to work on it,” Applejack said, running for the diamond.

Luna grumbled, trying to hold back an angry tirade that she’d regret later. “Sunset,” she growled. “Either get them back to normal or we’re sending them back to the SGC to let them deal with this.”

“Yes ma’am,” Sunset said, half-gulping down her nerves as Luna stormed back toward the school. Luna stopped for a moment, glared up at the second floor to clear the students away, then went inside.

“Magic run rampant, property damage, and a big game at the end of the week,” Pinkie said. “Just another week at CHS, right?” The pink-haired girl smiled wide, oblivious to the glares coming her way.

“We need to find a place to put you all,” Sunset said. “If Neighsayer sees any of this he’ll have too many questions.”

“Oh, the dressing rooms behind the auditorium,” Rarity said. “Knowing Cinch, she only went on about the academic performance of CHS. Meaning Neighsayer wouldn’t have any reason to look there.”

“Great idea Rarity,” Sunset said, looking down at their three bound benders. “Right, we need to move them. Applejack! When you’re done, give us a hand!”

As the group went to carry out their plan, a lone figure watched from the second floor.

* * *

“Welcome to CHS, Mr. Neighsayer,” Celestia said, smiling as she greeted the rail-thin administrator at the front door. “How are you today?”

“Ready to skip the pleasantries, Principal Celestia,” Neighsayer said, expression flat as he observed the school around him. “I think we’d both appreciate that?”

“ _More than you’d realize,_ ” Celestia thought. “Well, where would you like to start?”

“Observing several of your classes,” Neighayer said, walking toward the door. Then he stopped and stared at Celestia before she realized he expected her to open it. Smiling (While wondering how hard it would be to hand Cinch over to GDI), Celestia followed the man inside. “I understand Mr. Cranky Doodle is still a teacher here?”

“Why yes,” Celestia said, staying beside Neighsayer as they walked. “He’s still teaching civics and history.”

“I’d like to observe his class first then,” Neighsayer said. “I presume that won’t be a problem?”

“Of course not,” Celestia said, leading Neighsayer to the rear of the school. “He should be starting his first class of the day now.”

As they walked back, Luna came into view around the corner leading to the back doors. “Mr. Neighsayer,” she said, keeping her voice cool. Celestia knew her sister better than that though. Something had happened, and the vice principal wasn’t happy. “It’s good to see you here.”

“Vice Principal Luna,” Neighsayer said, nodding. “Yes, the two sisters of Canterlot High. I understand that you’re both alumni as well. Tell me, what inspired you both to return here for your positions?”

“I suppose CHS, being where we grew up, is somewhere we can’t quite leave behind,” Celestia said, smiling at the school. “When we both left the service, we wanted to take on careers that would allow us to give others the same opportunities we had.”

“Yes, well from what Principal Cinch described there’s little to no discipline at CHS these days,” Neighsayer said. “Students allowed to run free, unstructured periods for the senior class? She said the Friendship Games were a shocking revelation.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Luna grumbled under her breath. “So, where are we off to first?”

“Mr. Cranky Doodle’s classroom,” Celestia said.

“Oh,” Luna replied. “Well, I’ll let you get to it then. I have to take care of some business in my office.” As she walked on, Luna grabbed her phone.

* * *

“Oh man,” Soarin’ groaned, looking out on the ruined baseball field. “So much for the big game.”

“Well you’re not here to lead the team in pop-fly outs,” Cranky said, glaring at the boy. “You’re here to learn some history.”

Everyone grumbled, pulling out their textbooks until they heard a buzzing. Cranky looked around for a few seconds, glaring at the students. “What’d I tell you all about phones!”

“Uh, Mr. Cranky,” Roseluck said. “I think that’s your phone.”

Cranky blinked, looking down at his pocket. Grumbling for a few seconds, he pulled his phone out and glanced at the screen. “Let’s see here…Cheese and crackers! One of you get to the computer and pull up that stinking tube site! The rest of you pull the blinds down, now!”

The class didn’t know what was happening, only that something was happening at CHS again. Soarin and Cloudy Kicks started on the windows, Velvet Sky was busy bringing up UTube. She turned to Cranky and asked, “Uh, what video -- ”

“We’re on the section about the eighties, bring up a video on Retro Raygun’s presidency!”

It wasn’t two seconds later that the door opened up, revealing Neighsayer and Celestia. “Ah, Cranky,” Neighsayer said, staring down his nose at the man. “I see you’re still trying to adapt to technology.”

“Yeah, well some of us didn’t have time to go into administration,” Cranky said, glaring at Neighsayer. The students all leaned away as best they could, even if it were still in their desks. “So, why’re you here?”

“The school board wants to make sure that Canterlot High’s staff are ensuring the best education is being given to the students,” Neighsayer said, starting to pace the classroom. “After all, the Canterlot school board needs to maintain the standards that keep us one of the better school systems in the country.”

“I’ll bet,” Cranky said, rolling his eyes.

“Well, this has been a lovely stop but we should get going,” Celestia said, motioning toward the door. “Why don’t we keep moving?”

“Very well,” Neighsayer said, walking out. “Though I do ask that you come to Principal Celestia’s office after lunch, Cranky. I’d like to ask you a few more questions.”

“Fine, as long as it gets you outta my hair,” Cranky grumbled. With the pair out of the room, Cranky groaned and went to his desk. “Well you might as well start the video. And turn those lights off.”

* * *

It was an hour before Neighsayer was finished with walking the school, looking thoroughly unimpressed. Of course, that was also a good sign for Celestia. “I see some of Cinch’s claims were somewhat overblown,” he said, looking about the school. “Granted, I will need to speak with some of your students.”

“Of course, who did you want to speak with?”

Let’s see,” Neighsayer mused, pulling out a list of names. “Ah yes. Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, and…Ah, here we are, Fluttershy.”

“I’m sure we can get them after lunch -- ”

“I’d prefer to speak with them as soon as possible,” Neighsayer said, his tone final. “After all, as seniors they should have little difficulty in seeing me. Their education here is almost at an end.”

“Of course,” Celestia said, resisting the urge to groan out in frustration. “I’ll call them to my office as soon as we get back.”

* * *

Sunset was plucking away for Saturday when she heard Celestia come over the intercom. “ _The following students are asked to report to the principal’s office: Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pine, and Fluttershy._ ”

“Shoot, guess Neighsayer wants a word with us,” Applejack said. “Well we can’t leave them alone.”

“I’ll call someone to help,” Sunset said, turning to Asami. “If anything does start to happen, you’ll need -- ”

“Get them back to the SGC,” Asami said, smiling and nodding. “Get moving, before this guy comes looking for you.”

Sunset nodded, setting her guitar aside as she pulled out her phone.

Flash looked up in surprise as his phone buzzed, Cherilee staring at him. “Something important, Mr. Sentry?”

Flash chuckled, reaching down to check the text and silence his phone. Until he saw it was from Sunset. “Uh, Ms. Cherilee, I think this is something important with the multiverse.”

Cherilee blinked, then sighed and nodded to the door. “Just make sure you’re ready for the exam, otherwise I can’t help you.”

Flash grinned, hurrying out the door into the hallway. He rounded the corner toward the auditorium, and ran straight into Sunset as she went in the other direction.

Sunset groaned, pulling herself up and rubbing at her head. “Well, at least you got my text.”

“Yeah, don’t think Ms. Cherilee is too happy though,” Flash said, pushing himself up. “So what do you need me to do?”

“Just listen to Asami,” Sunset said, patting Flash on the shoulder. “If Neighsayer sticks around, help her get Korra and the brothers back to the SGC.”

“Got it,” Flash said, giving Sunset a wink and a thumbs up. “You go take care of Neighsayer.” Smiling at his friends as they ran off, he made his way toward the auditorium. Walking into an empty room, he looked around the empty rows in confusion. “Uh, anyone there?”

“Back here,” a voice called out from backstage. Following it, Flash saw a trio of benders tied up with a fourth person sitting against the back wall. “Hey, you’re Flash Sentry? Asami sato.”

“Nice to meet you,” Flash said, shaking her hand. “Hey Korra, you gonna be okay?” Korra rolled her eyes. “Yeah, stupid question.”

“It’s okay,” Bolin said. “We’re used to stupid questions. I’m Bolin by the way, and he’s Mako.” Mako grumbled something, Bolin glaring at his brother. “Mako, that is very rude.”

“Hey, I’m okay,” Flash said, seeing the guitar leaning up against the wall. Plucking at the strings, he made some adjustments to the screws. “I think. So, how’s your first taste of Equestrian magic?”

“You know, as crazy as it sounds,” Bolin said. “I don’t think it likes us.”

Flash stopped tuning the guitar. “You think that magic, a force beyond any understanding, doesn’t like you?”

The four looked at Flash, then at each other before Asami finally said, “Okay, putting it like that does make it sound silly.”

“No, I mean magic’s always been crazy,” Flash said, strumming at the guitar. “Sunset and Twilight both told you what happened to them, right?”

“And about the Dazzlings and Camp Everfree,” Asami said. “What I don’t understand is why now. Korra’s been here plenty of times before, why didn’t it affect her earlier?”

“Yeah, that’s the problem with magic I guess,” Flash said, shaking his head as he leaned back against the wall. “The last time Sunset really tried to study it, she wound up getting shocked, hit by apples, and soaked with a rainbow.”

“Soaked with a…rainbow,” Asami repeated. She groaned and covered her eyes with her hand. “Just when I think I understand the multiverse.”

Bolin raised his head. “You know, I feel exactly like you do.”

* * *

Neighsayer stared across from each girl in turn. None of them had anything in their records that jumped out at him. Bright students, involved in extra-curricular activities, and each of them having already applied to several colleges. At least, six of them. Fluttershy had applied for several schools, but the applications seemed to stop abruptly.

He listened as he questioned them. “What happened during the Friendship games? Principal Cinch mentioned there was some chaos.”

“Yeah there was,” Sunset said, glaring at Neighsayer. “Principal Cinch kept pushing Twilight, it nearly gave her a breakdown.”

“Well duh,” Rainbow said. “She was nothing but a jerk toward her students, all she did was act like all that mattered was winning.”

“She really didn’t know how to have any fun,” Pinkie said, thinking for a second. “I mean I know the Friendship Games have winners and losers, but the Crystal Prep kids didn’t look like they enjoyed any part of it.”

“I should say so,” Rarity said, turning her head up at the mention of Cinch. “That woman clearly needed to recall that the games are about Friendship between the schools, not about trying to be better regarded by the school board.”

“That’s one thing I’ll agree with her on,” Applejack said. “For not being part of the games, she sure liked to think she had something at stake in them.”

“It’s part of why I transferred schools,” Twilight said, looking sheepish as she spoke. “Before I came to CHS, I was hoping to apply to an independent study program. She said if I didn’t win the games, she’d deny my application.”

Neighsayer was emotionless as he typed down what the girls said. “What about the staff at CHS? We’ve been told the teachers are proving rather incapable of running a school.”

“I know that’s a lie,” Sunset said. “Principal Celestia, Vice Principal Luna, all the teachers go out of their way for us.”

“The jerk,” Rainbow said, shooting up out of her chair. “What does she know about CHS, she’s not here!”

“You bet they are!” Pinkie said, jumping out of her chair. “Principal Celestia in charge of this place makes it feel like it’s always a party, even when it’s not!”

“I suppose some might think the way things work at CHS is odd,” Rarity said, flipping her hair. “Still, none of us would be where we are without their work.”

“My family’s had three kids go here, and we’ve never had a problem,” Applejack said. “You ask me, Principal Celestia runs this place better than a queen bee in a hive.”

“Well, compared to Principal Cinch?” Twilight scratched the back of her head. “I honestly think being in CHS under Principal Celestia is a lot better than how it felt at Crystal Prep, and it hasn’t hurt my grades at all.”

Typing away, Neighsayer looked up again. “Do you feel that the other students would say the same thing of put in your shoes?”

“There’s no question they would,” Sunset said.

“Yeah, because this school is totally awesome!” Rainbow cried out.

“Abso-tively posi-lutely!” Pinkie laughed.

“Of course, sir,” Rarity said, holding her head high. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”

“I’m so sure I’d bet my pa’s hat on it,” Applejack said. “I mean I wouldn’t, but you understand what I’m saying.”

“I have no doubt they would,” Twilight said, adjusting her glasses. “They always look out for their students.”

Those answers were all well and good, there was just one problem.

The girl named Fluttershy had turned every answer around.

“Forgive me if this is forward,” Neighsayer said. “You seem to have a rather subdued attitude right now. Is something wrong?”

“I guess so,” Fluttershy said, not looking up. “I’m just having some trouble.”

“I see,” Neighsayer said, eyes narrowing. “Would this have to do with how things are run in the school?”

Fluttershy wrung her hands a moment, looking away from Neighsayer. “It’s not, well, necessarily that sir. It’s just that my friends aren’t acting like they used to.” Fluttershy looked up for a second, then looked like she was trying to shake an idea out of her head.

“Is something wrong,” Neighsayer observed. “You seem to be struggling with something.”

“I…Well…” Fluttershy turned her head away. “If I show you what’s happening, you’ll promise to help?”

“Of course,” Neighsayer said. “Just tell me what I need to know.”

Sunset leaned against the wall, glancing at the door every few seconds waiting for Fluttershy. “She’s taking a while,” Sunset said. “Should we be worried?”

“I’m not sure what Fluttershy could say,” Applejack said. “She turned in her recall bracelet, there’s no reason to think she’d be able to prove anything to Neighsayer.”

“Except for her geode,” Twilight said. “If she uses it in front of Neighsayer, then he’ll tell the entire school board about what’s happened. About where Sunset comes from.”

“Then we need to hope that -- ” Sunset was cut off by the door to the office slamming open, revealing a tranquil yet furious Neighsayer.

“Ms. Shimmer,” he said, his voice low as his eye bored into her. “Ms. Shy has informed me that you can tell me of a problem this school is having. Now.”

Sunset froze, her face falling as she turned toward the auditorium. “This way, in the auditorium.” Rarity reached out, but Sunset shook her head.

“No, what do we do,” Pinkie said as Neighsayer walked out of earshot. “Even if they don’t show off their bending how do we explain three people tied up with moving straps?”

“I’ll take care of it,” Rainbow said. In a blink, Rainbow flashed from the front of the school around to the back of the auditorium. Only to slam into the locked door in the back. “What?! Since when is anything here locked!” She slammed her fists on the doors, screaming out, “Asami! Asami, you gotta let me in!”

The lock clacked, and Asami opened the door. “Rainbow? What are you -- ”

“Neighsayer’s coming, you gotta get back to the SGC!”

Asami nodded, shutting the door and running back inside. “We’re going back to the SGC, Neighsayer’s coming.”

“Wait, how’d he know to come here,” Flash said. “Sunset and the others wouldn’t have told him.”

“We can worry about that later,” Asami said, slapping the bracelets on the others. “Get outta here, you don’t need to get in trouble because of us.” Nodding to Flash, Asami recalled to the SGC.

Walking toward the auditorium doors, Sunset couldn’t take it anymore. She jumped in front of Neighsayer and spread her arms out. “Sir, please, you can’t go in there.”

Neighsayer glared down at the girl. “And why not?”

“It’s just, you wouldn’t understand, you can’t possibly understand!”

“Are you telling me what I can and can’t know?”

Sunset cringed, backing up toward the door. “It’s just so powerful, you’d have no idea what to make of it!”

“That’s for me to decide,” Neighsayer said, moving past Sunset into the auditorium. “You will both wait right here.”

Sunset stared down at the floor, not looking at Fluttershy. Both girls stood silent outside the auditorium, Sunset trying to keep her emotions in check. Fluttershy had been having a bad time, she wasn’t blind to that. It didn’t mean her friend wasn’t doing something wrong right now.

Fluttershy thought the same, hating that she was leading Neighsayer to something Sunset was doing. It was something she had to do though, something she knew had to be done to help her friends. It was going to be hard, but if this could pull them away from the MVTF…

Neighsayer walked back out, shaking his head. “I see the problem Ms. Shimmer, though I must admit this is somewhat over-exaggerated.”

Sunset blinked, looking up in surprise. “It is?”

“It is disappointing, but hardly a reason for anyone outside the school to get involved.”

“I never would’ve thought of that.”

“Given that it’s your final year, and so close to graduation, things like this are to be expected.”

“Are you feeling okay, Mr. Neighsayer?”

“As for you Ms. Shy,” Neighsayer said, turning to the girl. “I can appreciate your concern, but this is hardly the kind of problem the school board would have any real control over.”

Fluttershy blinked. “Um, I mean I suppose so Mr. Neighsayer -- ”

“This is the responsibility of Principal Celestia, no myself or Mr. Starswirl.”

“Are you sure?”

“Quite,” Neighsayer said. “If you’ll excuse me, I think your principal should know about this.”

Sunset and Fluttershy stared at Neighsayer, until he walked out of view. Then Flash walked out of the auditorium, looking like he’d just walked into a cow pasture and forgotten what was in it. “Hey Sunset, how’d it go?”

“Flash?” Sunset asked, turning to face the blue-haired rocker. “What happened, where’s Korra’s team?”

“Rainbow made it to the back door,” Flash said. “Asami and the others managed to get back with time to spare, but if Neighsayer came in here without seeing anything I figured he might have more questions.”

“So you stayed behind to take the heat,” Sunset said. Before he could say anything else, she wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you so much Flash.”

“Hey, no problem,” Flash said, Sunset unable to see the blush he was getting. “Just hope Principal Celestia isn’t too hard on me for this.”

“I’ll take as much of the heat as I can,” Sunset said. Then she looked past Flash and saw Fluttershy hurrying away down the hall. “And after that, I need to talk to my friend.”

* * *

Gen. Hammond stared at the floor of the gate room, looking out on the three bound benders and Asami giving him an awkward wave.

“Uh…” Harriman said, trying to find his voice. “Security teams stand down.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

* * *

“I suppose it was inevitable,” Celestia said, shaking her head behind her desk. “The closer to graduation, the more liberties the students would try to take.”

“Quite,” Neighsayer said, reviewing his notes. “Ms. Shy is rather misguided in how she perceived the situation, but I don’t feel she was wrong in bringing this up.” Neighsayer glared at Celestia. “I do find it interesting that she didn’t feel to go to her own teachers for this.”

Celestia bit back a harsh comment. Antagonizing Neighsayer right now could wind up doing more damage than she could afford. “A young girl on the verge of making such a big move in life has a lot on her mind.”

Neighsayer’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything about Fluttershy. “There is one more conversation I need to have. If I could take the office for a moment?”

“Of course,” Celestia said, moving for the door. “Hopefully this puts us a few steps closer to resolving this situation.”

“A few steps,” Neighsayer said. There was a knock on the door, Neighsayer looking away from his notes. “I think I’ll need your office then?”

“Take your time,” Celestia said, walking out the door. Nodding as she passed Cranky, she patted him on the shoulder as she went.

“Ah, Cranky,” Neighsayer said, looking over to the older teacher. “I was hoping we’d have a chance to talk again.”

“I’ll bet,” Cranky grunted, shutting the door. “So what’s this about Neighsayer, you get bored of making silly rules about how we teach these kids?”

“We have to maintain these standards,” Neighsayer said. “After all, we were far too freewheeling when we were younger.”

Cranky rolled his eyes. “Sure, I bet that’s what you’d think. You and Cinch.”

“Cinch recognized that tight standards are what is necessary to build the future,” Neighsayer said. “And yes, I agree she has a tendency to strike others in a difficult way. That doesn’t mean she isn’t a capable school administrator.”

“Yeah, well I don’t see how you both leaving CHS just as we were making an impact did anything,” Cranky said. “Both of you were _so_ concerned with setting standards and making a reputation, you forgot that we’ve got kids to teach.”

“So, you support everything Celestia does at CHS?”

“You know better than that,” Cranky said. “I still think she’s too soft on some of these kids. That doesn’t mean she’d throw them under a bus for her own needs. You know Cinch is just bitter that those silly Friendship Games didn’t go her way.”

“Then nothing untoward is happening in this school?”

Cranky rolled his eyes and said, “No, are we done now?”

“We’re done for now,” Neighsayer said. “I will be by tomorrow to speak to the rest of the staff. For now, I’ll be leaving for the day.”

“Don’t trip over your own ego,” Cranky said, walking out the door.

* * *

Carter stood next to the beds as Dr. Frasier flipped through the test results. The three benders were in induced comas, it was either that or keep them bound in the straps. Asami sat next to Korra’s bed, but she’d been as attentive to Mako and Bolin as she had her girlfriend. “What do you say Janet?”

“Medically, there’s no sign they have anything wrong with them,” Dr. Frasier said, showing the clipboard to Carter. “Electrolyte levels, iron levels, everything comes back normal.”

“What about their bending,” Asami said. “Is there any way to test that?”

“I’m a little nervous to,” Carter said. “You told us this happened after Sunset started measuring their abilities? If we tried to measure it, whatever amplified their bending might be set off again.”

“What else can we do,” Asami said. “We can’t keep them like this forever.”

“Could we call Erza Scarlet?” Dr. Frasier asked. “She was successful in drawing the magic energy away from Sgt. Siler.”

“The problem is the magic in that case was actively bleeding off as voltage,” Carter said. “And trying to draw the magic out of them is too risky, it’s like what happened to them in U-616.”

“There still has to be a way,” Asami said, clutching Korra’s hand.

“Well this is about the only thing we can do medically,” Dr. Frasier said. “We still don’t know enough about the biological implications of magical abilities to try and treat them. Maybe we could chi block them, but I’m worried they’d eventually build up a kind of resistance to it.”

Carter walked over to Asami, kneeling down and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, we aren’t just gonna give up. We will find a way to get them back to normal.”

“I know you will,” Asami said, her voice solid. “I just need to know what I can do to help.”

“For now that’s staying here and waiting for any progress,” Dr. Frasier said, smiling at Asami. “You can get some rest if you want. I need to go over a few more things here.”

Asami nodded, squeezing Korra’s hand one last time before walking out of the infirmary. As soon as she was gone, Carter turned to Dr. Frasier. “How long can they be kept in a coma for?”

“Indefinitely, that’s not what I’m worried about.” Dr. Frasier said. “We know that magic uses the body’s metabolism to function, but there’s no sign that there was any corresponding strain during this. From what we’ve seen, those three should’ve been near exhausted using their bending like we were told they’d been.”

“Meaning there had to be another source of energy supplying that kind of power,” Carter said. “So where’s the evidence of it? There’s no noticeable physiological change, no sign of incisions or regions where this power could have entered their bodies, what could it be?”

“I can’t answer that right now,” Dr. Frasier said, glancing back at the three unconscious benders. “If we can’t figure out what to do with them, we have to send them back to their world and hope they have a way.”

Carter didn’t like the thought of admitting to Tenzin that they’d managed to screw up Korra’s power as the Avatar.

* * *

Sunset locked the door behind her, dropping her backpack by the door and setting her guitar on it’s stand. Grabbing a glass of milk from the fridge, she took a drink and made her way to the couch. Grabbing her remote, she turned the TV to a music channel and settled in for the night.

“ _At least they’re safe,_ ” Sunset thought. “ _Sam and Dr. Frasier can try to do something to help them._ ”

Looking across the room, she saw her guitar leaning against the wall. Shrugging, she muted the TV and shuffled over to grab it. She put on the first song she wanted to play for the show Saturday and started strumming.

“ _Magic resists being studied,_ ” she thought, picking at the strings. “ _But why? There are entire schools of magic in Equestria, and alchemy is taught as a science in Amestris. But when I try to study it here, it’s like it gets defensive._ ”

Sunset leaned back into the couch. “ _The question is why. Why doesn’t magic want to be studied the way I’m trying to study it here? Why doesn’t it want to be studied by Sam or the SGC?_ ”

The music cut off as Sunset’s phone buzzed. Looking over, she saw Rainbow Dash calling. Setting the guitar to the side, she answered. “Hey Rainbow, what’s up?”

“ _Okay, I have an idea Sunset,_ ” Rainbow said, sounding excited. “ _So we can’t ask Korra’s team for help, but that’s okay, there’s still seven of us. That’s all I need to help fill out the team for the game._ ”

“The game,” Sunset half-whispered. “Rainbow, we’re kinda worried about bigger things than a baseball game.”

“ _Well, I mean yeah, but c’mon Sunset,_ ” Rainbow pleaded. “ _We just need to find another field to practice at. We can go to Puddinghead Park, they’ve got a field we can practice on._ ”

“Rainbow, I’m exhausted,” Sunset said. “And Puddinghead Park is almost a half-hour away for me, nevermind Applejack and Pinkie Pie.”

“ _But Sunset --_ ”

“I’m sorry Rainbow, but I’m done for the day,” Sunset said, her tone final. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Ending the call, Sunset slid her phone across her table and went back to picking at her guitar, trying to relax her mind for tomorrow.

Her phone started to buzz again not five seconds later. Growling, Sunset grabbed at it and said, “Rainbow, I’m not helping you with the baseball game.”

“ _Sorry Sunset,_ ” Flash said. “ _Should I call you later?_ ”

“Oh, Flash, I’m sorry,” Sunset said. “I just got off the phone with Rainbow, she’s so focused on the baseball game this weekend she’s trying to get us to practice right now at Puddinghead Park.”

“ _This late? That’s a little much._ ”

“Well you know Rainbow,” Sunset said. “She’s always got to be the best. I’m sorry about what happened today, I didn’t mean to get you involved.”

“ _It’s okay, Celestia already said she’ll let me off easy because you asked for my help._ ”

Sunset smiled, leaning back on her couch. “Don’t expect me to always be your get out of detention free card for much longer.”

“ _Didn’t plan on it,_ ” Flash said. “ _So are you still gonna be able help on Saturday then? If you can’t, I won’t blame the Rainbooms._ ”

“I don’t know about the others, but I can still make it,” Sunset said. “Your break might be a little shorter, but I can play a few songs for you.”

“ _It’s okay,_ ” Flash said, his voice sounding a little softer. “ _I mean I’m just glad we can spend a little time together outside school, you know? We won’t have much time to talk to each other when we graduate._ ”

Sunset smiled, feeling better after the long day. “Yeah, it would be nice. Sorry it’s been so hectic in general.”

“ _I guess it’s been hectic for a long time,_ ” Flash said. “ _Anyway, I’ve got a few more things to do tonight. I’ll try to catch you later at school. Night Sunset._ ”

“Good night Flash,” Sunset said. Smiling again, she put the song back on and started strumming along to it.

* * *

“Fluttershy?” Mrs. Shy knocked on her daughter’s bedroom door before poking her head in. “Are you alright?” Fluttershy was already in her PJs, laying facedown on her bed. Only the dim glow of her nightlight was visible in the room. “Dear, what’s wrong?”

Fluttershy only lifted her head up enough to speak and said, “It’s nothing, just something at school.”

“Oh my,” Mrs. Shy whispered. “Do you need us to help with anything? Is this why there haven’t been any acceptance letters for a while?”

“It’s fine,” Fluttershy said. “I’m just feeling tired. Goodnight mom.”

Mrs. Shy reached toward her daughter, but pulled back. If her daughter was going through something, trying to probe might make it worse. If she made it worse, then her daughter might not succeed in college, or even go to college at all. If Fluttershy never went to college, she’d be unable to survive in the world, and…

Fluttershy heard the door finally click shut, and buried her head as deep as she could into her pillow.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

* * *

“Okay, I just wrote Princess Twilight,” Sunset said, holding the journal in her hand as the girls all gathered on the front steps before homeroom. “She said that she’s dealt with excess magic energy before, all we need to do is find a way to channel it out of Korra and the brothers.”

“Hang on now,” Applejack said. “What makes that different from what happened with Twilight’s machine?”

“I think it’s like attracting like,” Sunset said. “Magic attunes to magic, so what we need to do is use magic to draw the power from Equestria from the benders. We just need to find a way to use magic to draw it from the benders.”

Twilight thought for a second. “So how do we do it? If we can’t use technology that drains magic, what can we use?”

“I wish I knew,” Sunset said. “It was simple when…When…” Sunset blinked, then face-palmed so hard she shook her own eyeballs. “Of course!”

“Let me guess,” Rarity groaned. “You just remembered something that could’ve solved all this at the start but only just made the connection?”

“You sound like O’Neill,” Sunset said, rubbing at her forehead. “It’s like what happened in Magnolia, Korra used energybending to change the powers of the dragonslayers to hide them from Acnologia.”

“Meaning that Korra can use it to pull out the Equestrian magic,” Pinkie said. Then she blinked. “Only, won’t the Equestrian magic fight to stay inside them as she pulls it out?”

Sunset started like she was about to say something, then groaned. “Well unless anyone can come up with anything better? That’s about all we have to go on.”

“I’ll agree there,” Applejack said. “You wanna go to the SGC and take care of that now?”

Sunset started to nod, until she saw Fluttershy walking up. “Not yet. You guys go inside, I need to take care of something.”

The four nodded, hurrying inside the school as Sunset went up to Fluttershy. A thousand thoughts ran through her head, but they all came back to Fluttershy talking to Neighsayer yesterday. Of someone Sunset thought was a friend almost destroying their work with the MVTF because she was hurt. She could feel the anger roiling up inside her, but she did her best to hold it in. Letting it loose risked making it worse.

As the two closed in, the students crowded at the front of the school realized something was coming. Grabbing each other, they scattered for the doors. By the time the two were face to face, the front of the school was deserted.

Fluttershy finally looked up, then looked back down. “Hello Sunset.”

“Fluttershy,” Sunset said, staring straight at Fluttershy. “We need to talk.”

“I don’t want to,” Fluttershy said, looking away. “I have to get to class.”

“Flash has told me how you’ve been acting,” Sunset said. “You don’t care about classes, not anymore.”

“Sunset, please,” Fluttershy whimpered, taking a step back. “I don’t want to talk about what happened.”

“It doesn’t matter if you want to,” Sunset said, not budging from her place. “We _need_ to talk about what’s happened. You nearly exposed us, everything we’re trying to do. Why? I thought you were still our friend.”

“That’s why I told Mr. Neighsayer,” Fluttershy said, turning to glare at Sunset. “Look at what we’re doing. We’re lying to people who we’re supposed to be honest with, even Applejack isn’t telling the truth.”

“Because how do we explain this as the truth,” Sunset said. “What would happen if magic and the multiverse were revealed? How would people react if their entire existence was turned upside down like that?”

“What about what’s happening to us,” Fluttershy said, stepping toward Sunset. “We’re helping meanies like Capt. Campbell and Parker, or turning entire worlds upside down. How can we justify that? You saw what the platoon did in that city New York!”

Sunset pushed what she felt from Campbell during the mission with the Gargoyles and the Tipton. “Then what are we supposed to do when they need our help? When we’re trying to learn something from them? If you don’t want to help anymore that’s fine, but you’re gonna try and stop us from helping them? I won’t force you to help the MVTF anymore, but you’re going to try and stop me and the others?”

“Because, because,” Fluttershy said, starting to draw in on herself. “Because I’m afraid something will happen to you!”

Sunset blinked. “You’re worried about us?”

“The multiverse is dangerous,” Fluttershy said, looking back down at the ground. “There’s so many horrible things out there, and so many meanies. You’re all my friends, and you’re right that I can’t stop you. I just can’t bear the idea of any of you getting hurt either.”

“That’s why you’ve been so distant,” Sunset said. “It wasn’t just the things you’ve seen, it was because you were afraid of something happening to us.”

“People actually die around the MVTF,” Fluttershy whispered. “Why can’t we solve these problems without fighting? We never had to worry about violence before we met the MVTF.”

Sunset held her arm, looking away from Fluttershy for a second. “You’re right, it was uncomfortable for me the first time I saw how they did things.” Then she looked to Fluttershy, eyes hard. “That doesn’t mean we get to turn away either. We made a promise to be there for the MVTF after the attack. We’re their friends, and friends don’t have to always act the same way to help each other.”

“But I don’t want any of you to be like they are,” Fluttershy said. “I don’t want you to, to kill people.”

Sunset eased off, but didn’t look away from Fluttershy. “I still think you’re my friend, Fluttershy. If you ever need my help, I’ll give it to you. You can’t decide what we do though. You don’t get to be the one to choose what we do with the MVTF.” Finished, Sunset turned and started walking for the front door. Fluttershy was left standing outside the door, staring down at the ground lost in pain.

Walking inside, Sunset started to make her way to Principal Celestia’s office when she was blindsided by someone carrying enough baseball gear to cover their face. At least, that would’ve confused Sunset long ago. Now, she knew exactly who it was. “Rainbow, what are you doing?”

“I’ve got a plan,” Rainbow said, not looking over the pile of gear. “I figure that you’ve gotta have some kinda plan right? Once we fix Korra and the brothers, we can try and salvage the game.”

“Salvage the game?” Sunset said, incredulous. “Rainbow, they’ll need time to recover after this!”

“But it’s Korra,” Rainbow tried to argue. “She’s been back from worse, we can still use their help.”

“Rainbow, it’s a baseball game,” Sunset said. “I know it means a lot to you but we have something else to worry about right now.”

“But the ballgame is at the end of the week,” Rainbow argued. “I still have time to salvage this -- ”

“Rainbow!” Sunset called out, pulling the gear down from Rainbow’s hand. “Seriously, why are you so focused on this? What aren’t you telling me?”

“It’s just,” Rainbow said, looking around. “We’re graduating soon aren’t we? We’re gonna be going to college, and then there’s the MVTF missions, we’re not gonna…”

“Have what we did before,” Sunset said, the realization striking her like she was concrete debris and realization had a bald head and glorious mustache. “Rainbow, how long have you been feeling like this?”

“A while,” Rainbow said, turning away. “Ever since we went on that mission with Capt. Campbell it felt like everything was changing. It wasn’t just having fun exploring the multiverse, I mean things were really getting serious. Then you brought back all that stuff from Team Rainbow’s world, and we saw what things are like for some of them?”

Sunset didn’t argue. Watching Zeref invade Fiore, or what Father did on the Promised Day? The four times Korra had nearly died, or the never-ending war for Capt. Campbell’s platoon. GDI’s desperation against Tiberium, Overwatch’s betrayal, the Silver Wheel in the Empire. Even the Senshi, and the dozens of enemies still waiting once Beryl was defeated. All the pain and suffering in each team’s past and path. Then there they were, Rainbow worrying about a baseball game as they all tried to apply for college.

“Let me ask you something,” Sunset said. “If you left, if you -- ”

“What are you talking about?” Rainbow said, staring at Sunset like she’d just suggested CHS wasn’t the greatest high school. “I’d never leave, I made the same promise you did remember?”

“Right,” Sunset said, smiling at her friend. “I’m sorry Rainbow. It’s just, I guess we’re gonna have to accept that there are some things we just have to go without. At least until we start actually solving some of these problems instead of just mitigating them.”

“I guess,” Rainbow said, starting to pick up the fallen gear. “So that means you’re too busy to come to the game?”

“There’s no chance I’m missing that game,” Sunset said, helping Rainbow with the gear. “Even without practice and some of our best players, I know you’ll play the best baseball we’ve ever seen.”

“Well duh,” Rainbow said, putting her bravado back on in an instant. “It is me we’re talking about.”

With the gear back in Rainbow’s hands, Sunset made her way to Celestia’s office and knocked. “Come in,” Celestia said, looking up from some papers and Sunset opened the door. “Sunset, what do you have today?”

“I know how we might be able to help Korra’s team,” Sunset said. “I just need to get back to the SGC to do it.”

“Then we’ll keep Neighsayer busy,” Celestai said. Sunset couldn’t ignore the diabolical grin Celestia had. “It’ll be nice to send him back with nothing to tell Starswirl after Cinch set him on us.”

* * *

Carter thought over what Sunset said in the SGC conference room. “It’s a risk Sunset, you know that.”

“I know,” Sunset said. “It’s still the best option we can think of. It’s no more of a risk than going back to the Aschen to figure out their intentions.”

  
“Korra’s bending is still incredibly volatile,” Carter said. “One wrong decision and we could make things worse. If this doesn’t work, we’d need to be prepared to tranquilize her and send her back home to call on Master Tenzin and the White Lotus for assistance.”

“I understand,” Sunset said, face set. “It’s still the best option we have for them.”

“What do you think,” Carter said, turning to Asami. “Should we risk it?”

“Korra would say we need to,” Asami said. “It’s more than their bending being put into overdrive. If we send them back with this Equestrian magic in them, who knows if it might affect other benders, or even the spirits.”

“Then that’s a good enough reason for me,” Gen. Hammond said. “Tell Dr. Frasier to get them up and explain the situation to them. I want the gate made ready in case they have to leave at a moment’s notice. Major, keep me informed of anything that might happen.”

As the three women started for the infirmary, Sunset turned to Carter. “Hey, Sam? Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Carter said, smiling at Sunset. “What’s up?”

“It’s about Fluttershy,” Sunset said, rubbing at her arm as they walked. “Something happened today, it’s just got me thinking. Sam, did you ever have to stop being friends with someone?”

“Wait, what did Fluttershy do?” Carter asked, looking down at Sunset in deep confusion. “Is everything okay at CHS?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Sunset said. “Fluttershy told me that she’s worried we’ll wind up becoming ‘meanies’ if we stay with the MVTF. That she doesn’t want us helping you all anymore.”

“That must’ve been painful,” Carter said, calling the elevator. “What did you say to her?”

“I said that we’re not giving up helping the MVTF,” Sunset said, folding her arms as she waited for the elevator. “But I also told her she’s still my friend.”

“That’s probably the best thing you could’ve done,” Carter said, smiling at Sunset. “You’re old enough to know that friends don’t need to be exactly alike to get along.”

“Yeah, I learned that one the hard way,” Sunset said, scratching the back of her head. “It just hurt that she tried to reveal what we were doing to Mr. Neighsayer.”

“Wait, what,” Carter said as the elevator doors opened. “What are you talking about?”

“Well Principal Cinch tried to get us all in trouble with the school board,” Sunset said, rolling her eyes. “When Mr. Neighsayer came around to inspect us, Fluttershy tried to show him where we hid MV-2.”

“She did that?” Carter looked like she was trying to parse through what she’d just heard. “Because you’re still part of the MVTF? Sunset, this could’ve been a breach we wouldn’t be able to come back from.”

“Oh,” Sunset said, looking away as Carter hit the floor button. “I guess it would’ve meant we couldn’t ever help out again?”

“At the least,” Carter said. “Sunset, I can’t tell you what GDI or the EU would’ve demanded if Neighsayer had…Wait, Neighsayer?” Sunset nodded. “I suppose I should be getting used to names like that.” Sunset was too nervous to ask what GDI and the EU would’ve done against them if Neighsayer had found the truth. Asami was busy trying to remain part of the background and not get wrapped up in this particular conversation.

Finding Dr. Frasier, the two explained Sunset’s plan. “Well, it isn’t a terrible idea. We can’t do it in the SGC however, there’s too great a risk of injury if Korra’s bending goes haywire. The only place I’d feel comfortable doing it in Korra’s home dimension or at CHS.”

“Definitely not in Republic City,” Asami said, waving the idea away. “Tenzin would have too many questions, and I don’t think Korra would want to deal with Pres. Raiko asking about this.”

“So it’s CHS,” Dr. Frasier said. “We’ll need to let Korra out of the coma first, make sure that she doesn’t do anything until she’s bending her own energy. Once we’re sure she’s in the clear, then she can take care of the brothers.”

“I understand,” Sunset said. “Asami, I’ll wait with you until Korra’s ready to be moved. I’m sorry we can’t be more sure about this.”

“It’s okay,” Asami said, giving a small smile. “I’m already too used to the idea that none of us knows what’s going on.”

“I’ll get started on waking Korra up,” Dr. Frasier said, smiling as she got up from her desk. “Asami, come with me? She’ll need to have someone with her to help keep her calm.”

The wait was the longest part. A medical coma doesn’t involve the patient just waking up the second the drugs are cut off. The body metabolizes the drugs, working through them with enough time. Sunset and Asami were left waiting beside Korra’s bedside.

“So,” Asami said. “Looks like we lost with magic again.”

“I guess we did,” Sunset said, head hanging. “I’m starting to get tired of this. Every time I try to find out something about magic, magic keeps fighting me. It never reacted like this in Equestria when Celestia encouraged us to study it.”

“Another question,” Asami said. “I think that’s, what, twelve we need to answer?”

“At least,” Sunset said, chuckling. As things turned quiet, she turned to Asami. “Do you know anything about keeping in touch with friends over a distance?”

Asami smiled, running her hand over Korra’s. “One or two.”

Korra stirred. Asami leaned in, watching as her girlfriend finally opened her eyes. “Korra, I need you to keep still,” Asami said, staying in Korra’s vision. “It’s me, I need you to stay still and listen, alright?” Korra grunted, smiling as she looked to Asami. “Good, because you’re gonna feel pretty silly once you hear what Sunset has to say.”

* * *

Abacus Cinch waited at her desk, sitting prim and proper waiting for the phone call that would make her day. It was almost the end of the school day, and Neighsayer’s findings should be coming in any second to Starswirl. The phone was about to ring, she’d put the receiver to her ear, and…

The phone rang, Cinch grabbing it the instant it rang. “Crystal Prep High School, Principal Abacus Cinch speaking.”

“ _Ah, Principal Cinch,_ ” Starswirl said. “ _I just got a call from Neighsayer, he finished checking in on CHS._ ”

“Very well,” Cinch said, smiling as she leaned back in her chair. “I trust that appropriate action will taken to sort this ridiculous situation out?”

“ _Oh, I don’t think it’s that ridiculous._ ”

Cinch blinked, starting at the receiver. “You don’t?”

“ _I certainly agree that it’s not the best situation, but given it’s so close to the end of the school year I think we can leave it to Principal Celestia and her sister._ ”

Cinch jumped up from her chair screaming, “Are you serious!? You can’t seriously think this is a normal situation!”

“ _Principal Cinch, are you alright?_ ” Starswirl didn’t bother hiding his confusion over the phone. “ _This is most unusual for you._ ”

Cinch paused, composing herself for a second. “Right, I’m sorry, I’ve simply had a lot on my plate. Then I take it Neighsayer’s work didn’t establish anything too unusual?”

“ _No, not that he mentioned,_ ” Starswirl said, sounding confused. “ _Are you sure you’re feeling alright?_ ”

“I’m fine,” Cinch said, her voice placid as a New England country club’s water hazard. “Thank you for the update, Mr. Starswirl. I’m thankful you let me know.”

“ _Well I’m sure Celestia and Luna are thankful you kept them on their toes,_ ” Starswirl said, his voice upbeat again. “ _At any rate, the school year is almost over. We should all be focused on the graduating seniors. I’m sure we’ll talk again, goodbye._ ”

“Goodbye sir,” Cinch said, gently putting the receiver back on the cradle. Taking a long breath, Cinch shut her eyes and counted to ten. “Very well Celestia. If you wish to make me look like a fool, then I will answer in kind.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

* * *

“Okay, this is it,” Sunset said, unlatching Korra’s restraints. It was still dark, but this early in the morning no one would see Korra sending the Equestria magic through the potal. “Remember, start energybending the second you’re moving. Are you ready?”

Korra gave an “Hmmm” and she started moving. Her body was surrounded by a white light, Sunset moving to open the portal. As Korra used her energybending, she formed a ball of light between her and the portal. The white glow around her body turned gold, and Korra called out, “Okay, open the portal!”

Sunset focused, putting her hand on the statue. The portal opened, the white gateway attracting the ball of white energy held by Korra. “It’s working,” Korra shouted. “I can feel the energy draining out of my control.”

“What about Mako and Bolin,” Sunset called out. “Can you try to pull the Equestrian magic out of them?”

“I’ll try,” Korra shouted, turning her attention to Mako and Bolin. The brothers started to glow white, both of them shutting their eyes as the Equestrian magic in them was channeled toward the portal. Sunset could see Korra starting to strain, the extra power from the Equestrian magic falling off. She tried to keep her focus on pulling the magic from them before she lost control, but it looked like she was losing control. The white energy started to ebb and bend, fluctuating and veering off before moving through the portal.

“Asami,” Sunset shouted. “You need to help Korra, like we helped each other in Magnolia.”

“Okay, I’ll try,” Asami answered, moving up behind Korra and putting a hand on her girlfriend. “You can do this Korra, just stay focused and you’ll make it right again.”

Korra gritted her teeth and refocused, finding a second wind as she sent the Equestrian magic back where it belonged. Sunset saw her grinning a little, the energy obeying her as she pulled it from Mako and Bolin. The light around the Wondercolt statue turned more intense, Sunset shutting her eyes and looking away even as she held the portal open. Korra was starting to grunt and groan now, as the light around Mako and Bolin dimmed.

The blinding light started to fade again, and as Sunset opened her eyes she saw Korra sending the last of the Equestrian magic back through the portal. Pulling her hand away, she started moving toward a sweating, exhausted Korra. “Hey, you alright?”

“I think so,” Korra said. Then she looked up and realized she wasn’t blowing Sunset away. “I’m not airbending!”

Boling spoke up with, “That’s great Korra, now would you mind **_GETTING US OUT OF THESE STINKING THINGS!?_** ” Sunset jumped and ran over, undoing the straps on the brothers. Bolin sighed, stretching out his arms. “Oh yeah, that is so much better.”

“Reminded me of that time we were being held on the Earth queen’s airship,” Korra said. “Not exactly a party.”

“ _PARTY!_ ” Pinkie cried out, charging out of the school with a giant fire extinguisher. “ _SILLY FOAM CELEBRATION!_ ”

Sunset started to laugh, until she was half-frozen by the CO2 foam in the actual extinguisher. Bolin cried out, Korra airbending the foam away. “Pinkie, that’s the wrong extinguisher!”

As Pinkie blinked and stared down the nozzle (Mako snatching it away a half-second later), Korra walked over to the Wondercolt statue. “So, are you sure it isn’t a problem that we sent it to the other side of that portal?”

“The portal leads into Twilight’s castle,” Sunset said. “If anyone knows how to deal with magic, it’s her.”

* * *

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, cried out as the balls of white light careened around her castle. “Starlight, plan 24-B, now!”

Starlight Glimmer, currently trying to shield Spike the Dragon from one of the errant magical fields, looked over in confusion. “Is that the one with the spell of deflection?”

“No, we’ve been over this,” Twilight shouted. “That’s 17-E, not 24-B!”

Spike poked his head out from behind Starlight. “Someone just get rid of these things!”

* * *

“Yep,” Sunset said, walking up to the statue, the night quiet again. “She’s got it well in hand.” Looking down, Sunset turned to Korra. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to put any of you in danger.”

“It’s alright,” Korra said, smiling as she tapped a fist on Sunset’s shoulder. “It was some crazy magic that did this, not you. None of us blames you for what happened.”

Sunset smiled, looking back to see Mako trying his level best to keep the extinguisher out of Pinkie’s hands as Bolin practiced his moves once again. “Guess we need to find a new way to study magic,” she said.

  
“Yeah, maybe not in this universe?” Korra said, shrugging. “Just me suggestion anyway.”

“Here’s mine,” Asami said. “Let’s go to bed?”

Sunset chuckled and started for the statue. “I’ll send you back -- ”

“No, we’re staying,” Korra said, grinning. “There's still Rainbow’s game, we can afford to spend a few more days.”

Sunset blinked, then smiled at at the benders. "Thanks, all of you."

* * *

The crowd murmured as Rainbow manned third base. It was a 2-2 count, runner on second, one out in the bottom of the ninth. The batter had been up twice in the game, and the second time he’d nearly sent the ball flying hard into center field. Rainbow had to be ready, preferably to make the play at third. Failing that, to make sure the ball got to home before the runner could. Spitfire glanced over her shoulder to check the runner, then looked to Soarin. He flashed a signal to walk the batter, but she waved him off. It was too risky to put the batter on base, not now. The batter had wings on his feet, they’d seen it his last at bat. One wrong move and they could risk runners on second and third.

Soarin signaled for a fastball, but it was another shake off. Spitfire had been pitching all day, and she needed to switch up her pitches. She hadn’t been throwing many curves that game, and when Soarin gave the signal she nodded back. She set herself, taking a breath as she prepped for the pitch. She saw the batter try to imagine where the ball would go. Spitfire fired the ball, curving it right and hoping it would force the batter off the plate. Only the batter reacted too fast, and went for a bunt. Soarin jumped up, throwing his mask off as he scrambled for the ball and threw it to Rainbow.

Rainbow gritted her teeth. Soarin had thrown too fast, and the ball too her away from the base. The runner from second was charging hard, and even with the shortstop moving in case there was a rundown Rainbow had to make a choice. She could hold third, the runner could go back for second, and cue the rundown. Or…

The CHS fans cheered as Rainbow charged straight for the runner, the player faltering as they tried to turn back for second. Rainbow seized the chance, leaping at the player and throwing up a cloud of dust. When it cleared, everyone could see Rainbow pinning the runner with her glove.

“That’s it Rainbow,” Applejack shouted. “Just one more inning and we’ve got it!”

“I’m on the edge of my seat,” Bolin said, literally leaning on the edge of his section of the bleachers. “So what happens if they win?”

“Rainbow would have to step away from the MVTF a while,” Sunset said, smiling as the crowd settled down. “That’s if she wants to captain the team through the regionals.”

“Course she’d be the first to jump right back in,” Applejack said, lifting the brim of her ballcap. “You’d never see her down for too long.”

“That’s fine, we’ll take the rest,” Mako said, leaning back in the stands with a water bottle in both hands. “I’m exhausted after what happened. Funny how doing nothing wiped us out.”

“We’re still thankful you all decided to watch the game,” Sunset said. “It means a lot to us, and especially to Rainbow.”

“Still trying to figure out this baseball thing,” Korra said, tilting her head sideways. “You’re saying this is a national pastime? It’s just people hitting a ball and running around a diamond.”

“I agree, it’s no hoofball game,” Sunset said. “It’s still better than running for our lives from monsters or lunatics.”

“Again, not sure what that says about your home universe,” Asami said with an awkward smile.

“Here it is,” Applejack said, leaning forward. “As long as we can strike this fella out, we’ll win this thing.”

The stands leaned forward (Korra’s team noticing and looking at each other in confusion), watching as Spitfire prepped for the pitch. The field was enveloped in a heavy silence, watching as Spitfire got ready to pitch. One shake off, then she set herself.

The pitch was another curve, but not enough. The batter sent the ball high into left. Blaze tried to position herself under it, but the sun caught her eyes and she had to look away. The ball landed half a foot away, and she scooped and wound up. Rainbow prepared herself, just in case. It was smarter to hold the runners than try for an out, but Blaze had an arm and might try for it.

Blaze fired the ball, trying to catch the second runner at second. It wasn’t hard, but the first runner kept charging through third for home. The ball went flying, Rainbow helpless to do anything as Soarin tried to make the play at the plate. That was when Rainbow saw it, Soarin had moved too far forward for the ball that he didn’t have his feet on the plate. Before Rainbow could call out, the runner went into a slide as Soarin caught the ball.

“Safe!” The umpire’s call ended the game, the Wondercolts patting each other on the back and reminding each other they played their best game. Rainbow stood at third base, kicking at the dust as her teammates came together.

Sunset came around the fence surrounding the field. “I’m sorry Rainbow, this must feel terrible.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Rainbow said, looking up with a smile. “We both played a fair game, we were just the ones who lost. I’m fine, really.”

Sunset smiled, then nodded to the center of the diamond. “You’d better get over there, everyone’s lining up for the handshakes.”

“Right, be back in a second then,” Rainbow said, running over to line up with her team.

“Gotta admit,” Korra said. “That wasn’t what I expected.”

“Me either,” Applejack said, lifting the brim of her hat. “Well, Rainbow’s always one for playing fair anyway. Can’t say it wasn’t a close game, right?”

“Certainly not,” Rarity said. “Though I think we should expect her to be rather subdued for the next day or two.”

“Maybe we should stick around,” Bolin suggested. “I mean, I don’t feel terrible.”

“You three still need to take a break,” Asami said, in that tone that said, “Don’t argue with me, or else”. “We’ll recall once we’re back at the farm.”

“I’ll get you over there then,” Applejack said. “I’ll meet you all over at Rainbow’s, okay Sunset?”

“Right, see you all later.” Sunset turned back to see the CHS team shaking hands, moving to their bleachers to pack up their gear.

“Guess I won’t be using this,” Pinkie said, pulling her silly foam extinguisher out from behind her back. “It’s too bad, Raibow was so excited about this one.”

“We know Pinkie,” Sunset said, putting a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder. Looking over at the bench, she smiled. “I think they could use some cheering up, don’t you?”

Pinkie laughed and sprinted at the CHS bench, spraying them down with silly foam as they started to laugh. Sunset sighed, walking over to make sure Pinkie didn’t go too far with the foam.

* * *

Gen. Hammond stared down at the conference table as Celestia finished telling him what happened. “I don’t think I need to tell you the problem this presents.”

“I know sir,” Celestia said, staring ahead from where she sat with her voice in total deference. “I’ll talk to Sunset about this, there must be another way to help Fluttershy understand why she can’t do this again.”

“I hope she can find a way,” Gen. Hammond said. “I don’t have to tell you what GDI and the EU would suggest as a solution to this problem.”

Celestia tried not to think about that. She’d been trying not to think about it since Fluttershy had nearly blown everything open. There would only be two options if it came to it, and that was only if Gen. Hammond managed to head off GDI.

“I’ll leave it to you and Ms. Shimmer to figure out a plan,” Gen. Hammond said. “I’ll need it soon, and long before anyone else learns of this. Otherwise I won’t be able to stop what the others will demand.”

“Understood sir,” Celestia said. “Is there anything else?”

“I don’t believe there needs to be,” Gen. Hammond said, softening his tone. “Still, I don’t want this becoming an issue further on. Something has to be done to either impress on Ms. Shy the importance of secrecy, or we will have to bring this up to the other members of the MVTF. Though I would ask that you tell Mr. Sentry we appreciate his willingness to help.”

“I will sir,” Celestia said, smiling as she got up. “Thank you for the time sir.”

“Thank you for your assistance,” Gen. Hammond said. “If anything else comes up, you know where to find us.”

“There might be sir,” Celestia said, her smile turning into a grin. “We have a special event coming up, and I think the girls would appreciate the MVTF attending.”

Gen. Hammond nodded. “I’ll ask the other teams as soon as we have a date.”

“I hope they’re ready for a party then,” Celestia said. “Pinkie is all over this one.”

* * *

Sunset watched as the crowd cheered Flash’s band, the three waving as they stepped away from the small stand. The store opening had gone well, Filthy Rich playing up his latest store as another boon for the local Canterlot economy. Sunset wasn’t the greatest fan of Filthy Rich, to her he was like a strutting rooster always preening his feathers. Even Diamond Tiara, once almost as bad as Sunset had been, seemed to try and keep her father at arm’s length.

“Thank you boys,” Filthy said, stepping up to the mic. “And once again, thank you all for coming out to this latest opening. Remember, Rich Stores help everyone feel rich!”

“Blah blah blah,” Applejack groaned as she tuned her bass. “Funny how he’s not mentioning the store he bought had to sell to him.”

“Yes, I suppose he’s always been quite the cutthroat,” Rarity said, making sure the keytar was set to piano mode. “Sunset, have you given any thought to how this song will sound?”

Sunset looked up from her guitar. “What do you mean?”

“Ah, I see,” Rarity said. “Well while I agree that the song you chose to start with is rather catchy, I fear it might not endear us to Filthy Rich.”

“Well he isn’t paying us,” Sunset said. “We’re doing this as a favor to Flash, he earned it after what happened the other day with Neighsayer. Besides, it’s not like the rest of the songs are a problem.”

“Now, let’s hear it for our next band, the Wonderbolts!”

The girls bounded onto the stage, the crowd clapping as they all took their places. “Hey everyone,” Sunset said, strumming at her guitar a little. “We just wanted to say thanks to Mr. Rich for letting us play today. We’re gonna play a song I learned a few weeks ago, [I hope you like it too.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ-UgAUEPa0)”

Sunset started slow, strumming the chords and letting the tune work through the crowd as she started singing. She let them see the sights of it, the long highway, the endless sky, and the valley below. Then the girls picked up.

Their voices carried over the crowd, benefiting from the simple melody of the song. It wasn’t as hard as some of the music she’d heard in the other universes, or as complex. It didn’t rock, not yet anyway. It didn’t shout or scream, it didn’t take nearly ten minutes to play. Each word was clear, each lyric plain. Yet the crowd started to bounce and sway with it, some holding their cell phones out to save the song for later. She saw them talking to each other, probably asking where Sunset could’ve heard the song. She’d just tell them if they asked it was off some old record.

She turned to see her friends playing along. Rarity adding the sounds of a piano with each key, as Pinkie and Applejack kept steady time on the drums and base. Twilight helped with the chorus, but it still wasn’t the same. Fluttershy’s light voice was absent, there was no clatter of her tambourine this time. Sunset pushed the pain back for now, there was nothing she could do about it yet. That didn’t mean Fluttershy wasn’t still her friend, and whatever happened Sunset would still treat her as such.

As Rainbow got up and hit her guitar solo, Sunset stepped back and let the girl have her moment. It hadn’t been an easy week for Rainbow either, but she’d come out on the other side. Better than Sunset had expected too. There was still hope for the future, with her friends there was still nothing that they couldn’t do.

Sunset started belting out the lyrics a little louder, hearing the crowd start to sing along. Some of them were jumping up and down, laughing as they swayed with the music. She could feel the energy from the crowd, uplifted and hopeful. The pain and struggle of the week was gone, replaced by hope and brightness. Yes, there was still hope, and there was no stopping it.

The problem was Filthy Rich stepping in front of the mic as soon as the song was over. “Yes, thank you Wonderbolts! Weren’t they great ladies and gentlemen!” The crowd cheered out, Filthy clapping along. Except Sunset could feel the anger radiating off of him through his smiling face. “Now let’s all let the band take a break, everyone enjoy the day.”

Sunset backed up to Rarity. “Is this what you were talking about?” Rarity nodded. “Oh. I think we should leave.”

Gathering their instruments up, the girls moved fast to pack up and leave. “Sunset, wait,” Flash said, running over. “What happened?”

“I don’t think Filthy liked the song we played,” Sunset said, looking back at the stage. “We should probably leave, before we get you in trouble.”

“What are you talking about,” Flash said, smiling. “That song was great! You’ve gotta tell me where you heard it, and who wrote it.”

Sunset smiled at Flash, until she saw Filthy Rich coming over. A little too fast to just talk to them. “Uh, Flash, you’d better get back to your band.”

Flash blinked, then turned back to see Filthy coming at them. Then he did something Sunset didn’t expect. He straightened up.

“Well, I’m glad to see you know where you’re not wanted,” Filthy said, glaring at Sunset. “Mr. Sentry, you can get back on stage now.”

“I don’t think we can,” Flash said, glaring up at Filthy. “The Wonderbolts didn’t finish their set after all.”

“What are you talking about,” Filthy said, sneering at Flash. “They aren’t even getting paid for this. If you want to make your money kid, you’d better get back up there and play.”

“Not until the Wonderbolts finish their set,” Flash said, standing firm. “My band won’t play a note until they finish.”

“Really,” Filthy said, turning to Flash’s band. “Do they know that?”

Flash grinned and looked to the pair. “Hey guys!” The pair looked up. “He won’t let the Wonderbolts finish their set.” Brawly Beats and Ringo looked at each other, then grabbed their drumsticks and 9 volts, respectively. Making sure Filthy Rich could see, the pair dropped them on the ground and started packing up.

Grinning, Flash looked back at Filthy. “Looks like you’re all out of music.”

Filthy’s eyes narrowed, the businessman straightening up and smoothing his suit. “Not a problem. My customers can survive without some two-bit high school bands while they shop. You’re all free to leave.”

As Filthy walked away, Sunset put a hand on Flash’s shoulder. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Course I did,” Flash said, smiling back at Sunset. “What kind of friends would we be if we didn’t stick up for each other?”

Sunset didn’t say anything for a second, then she wrapped her arms around Flash. Flash blinked, unsure of what to do. Looking to the rest of the Wonderbolts, they motioned for him to hug her back. Shrugging, he returned the hug and asked, “You gonna be okay?”

“Definitely,” Sunset said, pulling back. “Thanks Flash.”

As Flash’s band drove off, Sunset realized she was staring as they left. Shaking her head clear, she turned back to see her friends giving her knowing smiles. “Well, looks like we still got something out of playing today,” Rarity said, resting her head on her hands as she leaned on her car.

“C’mon, I was just…” Sunset stopped, and smiled. “Okay, yeah, maybe I do want to be boyfriend and girlfriend again.”

“And maybe Twilight has glasses,” Applejack said, Twilight rolling her eyes. “C’mon y’all, let’s get going before Filthy decides we’re trespassing.”

As the friend drove apart, Sunset looked up at the sky before she put her helmet on. There was still a lot to answer, but she wasn’t worried. She still had her friends, she still had the diary to talk with Princess Twilight, and she was still part of the MVTF. [Humming another song to herself](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ-qFkCLqLc), she put her helmet on and revved her bike, tearing down the streets back home.


End file.
